Day 18: Final full day

Today was sadly our last full day in South Korea, but still very memorable nonetheless. While we originally were going to have a lot of free time on our own today, we ended up spending most of the day on an organized city bus tour that we would have otherwise done on our first day in Korea if our flight had not been delayed. One of the most famous tourist attractions in all of Seoul, the palace was once home to the Kings of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea hundreds of years ago. We then did some final souvenir shopping and ate lunch in the Insadong district of Seoul, which is famous for its very long shopping street. Our final destination for the day was Namsan Tower, which sits on a mountain in the middle of Seoul and offers an incredible 360 degree view of the city and the mountains that surround it. We then went back to the guesthouse, ate dinner at a nearby restaurant, and started preparing our luggage for our flight home tomorrow.

 

As for further updates, I will try to get in one last post showing the events of tomorrow morning was we check out of our guesthouse and drive back over to Incheon International Airport for our flight back to the States. However, since free wi-fi is limited in Korea if you do not have a coverage plan, there is a chance that I will not be able to get anything further out and this would be my last post. If that is the case, thanks so much for following us in our incredible adventure in Korea! We have all made so many great memories on this trip, and we look forward to returning to the U.S. to share it all personally. As of right now, our flight is scheduled to arrive in Detroit around noon tomorrow with some of us exiting the airport there to go home and some going on another separate flight directly to Grand Rapids. We will see you all tomorrow!

In the bus on our way to Gyeongbokgung palace

A traditional changing of the guard ceremony

A few pictures from the inside of the palace

A room where the King would sit

Insadong shopping street

A final group lunch

Looking down onto the city

 

Namsan tower

 

A few views of Seoul from the observation deck of Namsan tower

 

Group photo with our friend in the middle

Our final group dinner. I apologize for the blurriness

 

Lance putting some toppings on his frozen yogurt at a “froyo” parlor we visited for dessert

Day 17

was our third Sunday here, which meant a visit to the Yoido Gospel Church, which has over 800,000 members that worship at several locations and times in Seoul and many other satellite churches throughout the rest of the world. The service combined both contemporary and traditional parts of a church, such as a full orchestra, choir, organ, and a band. This was probably our most memorable church experience here in Korea, seeing thousands of people coming together and worshiping all at once. After the service was over, we then took a long subway ride to nearby Incheon, which is a coastal city that sits to the west of Seoul and faces the island where Incheon International Airport is located. There, we took a short city bus tour that included visits to the Incheon port, a small city museum, an observation tower, and a cross over a 13 mile long bridge that connects the northern and southern part of the city, which sit across the bay from one another.

A few pictures from the 9 am service we attended at Yoido Gospel Church

A lunch of mandoo (fried dumplings)

A few photos from our drive through Incheon port

A 13-mile bridge that connects both sides of the city

Looking out of an observation deck that allows a view of the Incheon bay

Jantzen looking through the binoculars

Photos of the bridge and Incheon skyline seen in the distance through the binoculars

Photos from around the 23rd storey of another observation building

We wrote a message on the electronic signboard that circles the building

Day 16

Today, our first full day back in Seoul, we started off in the morning by heading over to a business that teaches people how to make imchi, a staple food eaten with most Korean meals explained in the last post. It was quite fun, and we found out that making the kimchi is quite a long process that involves carefully combining ingredients such as red pepper paste, sesame seeds, honey, salt, spices and then coating the leaves of a head of cabbage with the mixture. After that is done, the cabbage is then usually wrapped up and will sit in the refrigerator for a few days to ferment. Upon finishing the kimchi, the staff then gave us ice packs and cooler bags so we could take our creations back home. Most of us are planning on taking our kimchi home and storing it in the fridge at the guesthouse and the ice packs in the freezer so they will stay cold up until and while we leave on our flight back to the States, so get ready for a taste! Later in the afternoon, we then visited Aiin’s World, which is an outdoor museum that features miniature models of famous places all around the world from the Great Wall of China to the Versailles Palace in France. In the evening, we were lucky to be joined by Calvin graduates Grant Bouwer and Ky Hyung Park in exploring Seoul on foot and then eating a dinner of Korean BBQ at a restaurant we had visited earlier when we were in Seoul the first time.

Sittin’ on the subway

Photos from our kimchi making experience

The end result

Looking proud with my bag of kimchi

A lunch of Japanese food

 

Entrance to Aiin’s World

The Big Ben clock tower

Luke, Jantzen, and Lance looking at the models

The Eiffel Tower

Versailles palace

The Parthenon

Red Square, Moscow

The sphinx and pyramids of Giza

Capitol Building

The White House

A traditional changing of the guard ceremony at a palace entrance in Seoul

A statue of King Sejong the Great, who is credited for inventing Hangeul, the simple letter-based writing system of the Korean language. Prior to that, only about 10% of Koreans could read and write using a system based on Chinese characters. Thus, Sejong is recognized by UNESCO for his role in combating illiteracy

Gyeongbokgung Palace

The U.S. embassy, our first sight of American soil in a few weeks

We were joined in Seoul by Calvin grads Grant Bouwer and Kyu Hyung Park (4th and 5th from the left) who are in Korea teaching English and serving in the South Korean army, respectively.

Group dinner with Grant and  Kyu hyung at the same restaurant as the one we had lunch at after our DMZ visit

Day 15

We have all arrived safely back in Seoul where we will spend the final three full days of our adventure in South Korea! The day started out early in checking out of our hotel and walking a short distance over to the station where we boarded a KTX train, which travels at a speed of 300 km/h and covers the long route from Busan to Seoul in just a little under three hours. After arriving in Seoul at about 1:30 pm, we checked our luggage into the May Guesthouse, where we had originally stayed for the first few days after arriving in the country. We then took the subway over to the Seoul Football Stadium, which hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the first one taking place in all of Asia. When the stadium is not being used, it is converted into a museum where visitors can go in and see the playing field, locker rooms, press conference areas, and an exhibit that shows the entire history of soccer in Korea. When our visit was over, we then took the subway across town to eat dinner at a restaurant owed by Sophie’s parents that specializes in Korean style fried chicken. The food was outstanding, and Sophie’s dad graciously paid for our meal there. We then went back to the guesthouse to catch some sleep before we get up early tomorrow for our kimchi-making experience (kimchi=spiced, pickled cabbage that is a staple in Korean cuisine. Sort of like sauerkraut with a Korean twist).

Boarding the KTX high speed train

Looking ready for the three hour train ride back to Seoul

At the front entrance of the Seoul 2002 World Cup stadium

A few pictures of the inside of the stadium. Unfortunately, it had been raining so the field was all covered up

Locker rooms used by the teams

Jantzen holding a press conference

Checking out the indoor practice field

Getting ready to watch a movie about the Korean National Football Team

A model of the stadium

Eating dinner at a restaurant owed by Sophie’s parents

Korean style chicken salad

Day 14

Today started out with a visit to the UN Memorial Cemetery where hundreds of fallen soldiers from various countries that participated in the Korean war currently rest, including some of the almost 36,000 American servicemen who lost their lives throughout the devastating war. It was a rather touching experience for many of us seeing what a sacrifice all of the countries made in the war and how appreciative South Korea was of them for helping defend it’s freedom and democracy. As the manager of this blog, I must also share a rather touching moment I had at the cemetery. While I was wandering on my own around some of the graves, an elderly Korean man walked up to me and asked where I was from. Upon telling him that I was part of a college group from the U.S., he shook my hand and thanked me for the sacrifices America had made for his nation. On our way out of the cemetery, South Korean military policemen stood at attention and saluted our group as we walked through the main gate. After leaving, we then visited the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference building, which sits right on the beach and offers a beautiful view of downtown Busan and the ocean. We then walked along the beach to  a dock area where we boarded a boat that gave us a 1 hour ride through the Busan harbor and around some islets just off the coast. Since it was such a clear day, the sun had really warmed everything up by then which made the experience all the better. It was so clear, in fact, that a Japanese island located 50 km from Busan could be seen faintly in the distance. After we returned, we took a bus over to the Shinsegae shopping center, which was ranked as the largest shopping center in the world in 2009. There we ate lunch at the food court and spent a couple hours exploring the entire mall. To give you an idea of how big it was, think of your average sized shopping mall in the U.S. and then multiply it by ten; the number of floors in the market. We then were able to eat a group dinner with a local Calvin graduate before heading back to our hotel to prepare for our ride back to Seoul tomorrow.

Sitting on the upper deck a city bus. We know what you’re thinking. Don’t ask why.

The entrance of the UN memorial cemetery

Graves of South Korean and UN soldiers

Flags of the UN countries that supported South Korea During the Korean War

The grave of a fallen U.S. serviceman

The stars and stripes above the American section of the cemetery

A wall with the names of foreign troops killed in the war

The APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference room

Views of the Sea of Japan from the APEC headquarters building, which sits right above the beach

Views of the ocean from an observation area near the beach

Group photo with the Busan skyline in the background

Walking along Haeundae beach

Enjoying the scenery on the upper deck

Going into the Busan harbor

Cruising around some small islets a few miles off the shore

Luke playing a golf demo game in a golf equipment store in Shinsegae Market. The owner of the store got a real kick out of his golfing skills, and even asked if he played professionally

Group dinner with a Calvin graduate currently working as an English teacher in nearby Ulsan

Day 13

Today we once again spend the first part of the day on another city bus tour, although this time we had a different route and stopped at different locations throughout the city. While some of the locations we visited included a city museum and Buddhist temple, what really stood out the most for many of us was a ride on a cable car that took us from the valley where the city is located to over 3,000 feet up into the mountains that surround the area. Once we were at the top, we could all get a beautiful full view of the city and even see the ocean in the distance. After our bus tour was over, we all went back into town and ate a lunch of street food at the shopping street we had been at the day before. In the afternoon, we did some more exploring on foot in a separate district of Busan and visited the famous Jagalchi fish market, which is the biggest in Korea. It was definitely an interesting experience seeing all the exotic seafood being sold out in the open, but you had to be careful in dodging people running around carrying live octopus or fish. We then headed back towards our hotel and ate dinner at another Chinese restaurant before settling in for the night.

 

 

Tomb models from early Korean dynasties

An armored warrior

Visiting a park up in the mountains which featured a Buddhist temple

Group photo at the entrance of the Buddhist temple

Our tour guide explaining the history of the temple

Taking a cable car up into the mountains which surround the city

 

Views of Busan from the cable car

Exploring the Jagalchi fish market

 

View of the harbor where fishing boats come in

Day 12

We spent our first full day in Busan by first taking a city bus tour of downtown Busan, where our hotel is located, to get to know our surroundings a little better and to get a quick look at some of the attractions around the city, which included the Busan Tower, probably the highlight of our morning. The tower, which sits on a mountain, offers a full view of the entire city and its surroundings such as the ocean and some of the countryside. After our visit we ate lunch and were again given free time in the shopping district, where we broke off into groups with some of us doing some shopping and others hanging out at coffee shops and snack vendors to relax and chat.

Going across the bridge that connects the two sides of the city

The Sea of Japan

Busan tower, which offers a 360 degree view of the Busan

A view of Busan from various directions

Busan, being a port city, always has many ships transiting it’s harbor, as seen in this photo

Group photo in the Busan Tower

On our way back into town, we noticed many people taking pictures of this group of people up on this pagoda. Apparently, a famous Korean actor was doing a photo shoot there

Lunch at a local restaurant in the shopping district of Busan