East Asia: Japan, Part 3: Hakodate

Day 6: Hakodate

On Thursday I woke up and hopped on my first of 3 trains. I took a train from Kyoto to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Hachinohe, and finally Hachinohe to Hakodate – a total of about 10 hours (including a few minutes between trains). I spent the train rides writing postcards, reading, and listening to music. I even saw a few Sumo wrestlers on the first train!

My friend Chellie, from Goshen College, greeted me at the train station in Hakodate. She’s been there for a bit over a year now, teaching English in public schools. We hadn’t seen each other for about 5 years, so it was good to see each other again! I spent my last few days with her, exploring her area and being a bit lazier than the previous few days (which was nice-uh!).

We went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant for dinner then rented a movie to watch before crashing for the night.

Day 7: Hakodate

Friday was great as I got to sleep-in! We spent the afternoon and evening doing all of the touristy stuff around Hakodate (and, yes, we pretty much did ALL of the touristy stuff in one day ^^). We went to Goryokaku Park and then headed to a foot onsen. We did some shopping in an area down by the bay (but not where the watermelons grow…). They turned some old warehouses in neat little shops; I enjoyed walking through them and bought a few final gifts. We also hit up a small brewery so I could try some Sapporo beer!

the foot onsen

these little cars were running along the streetcar tracks in preparation for their upcoming Squid Festival

the old warehouse shops

We walked around the Motomachi District, on Mt Hakodate’s lower slopes. There is the Russian Greek Orthodox Church, the Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward, the Old British Consulate, along with a few others. After walking through there we caught the cable car to the top of Mt Hakodate. According to the Japanese, the view from the top of Mt Hakodate is the 3rd best in the world... I would disagree, though it was a nice view once the fog cleared up! While we were waiting for the fog to clear up we got some drinks; I enjoyed some warm sake, and we both had fun setting our glasses (and my sake cup) on the little light-up coasters at the restaurant. Yes, amused by small things! After the mountain we headed back to Chellie’s apartment, watched a movie, and crashed.

the old Britsh consulate

Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward

view of the bay

the Russian Greek Orthodox church

foggy view of the sunset from on top of Mt Hakodate

the clear view

Day 8: Hakodate

Saturday was my last full day in Japan. Chellie and I got up in time to grab some breakfast at Mister Donut (very popular in Japan) before meeting up with her Japanese teacher and others. We got to try on yukatas. Afterwards we enjoyed some Indian food (we’d gone there the day before, too!) and then met up with one of her friends for some karaoke. We sang some tunes for about an hour then headed down to the festival. It was day one of their big Squid Festival. That first night there were just a lot of booths with various street foods and random games. Chellie tried her hand at a couple games, and we all enjoyed some food (including delicious chocolate covered bananas!). When it started to get darker we met up with more of their friends to watch the big firework display. We got there a good hour or so before they were meant to start… and then the rain came. The fireworks were delayed a good hour or so; by the time they were started we were already a bit wet. Not long after the fireworks got going, the rain came down harder… after about an hour or so of some fantastic fireworks we were pretty soaked and cold. We made our way out slowly, walking during pauses and then stopping to watch a few more fireworks before walking during the next pause. In the end we got back to the train station and managed to get seats on the next train leaving. Back at Chellie’s we threw our wet clothes in the dryer and then headed to bed.

some signs on the train that I found to be funny

the group of us in our yukatas

chocolate-covered banana!

sittin' on the dock of the bay...

Mt Hakodate

Day 9: Hakodate… Tokyo… Incheon… Ansan!

Sunday was a long travel day for me… Her friend and I both had an early train to catch, so we had to leave Chellie’s apartment around 6:15am (it was about a half hour drive to the train station). I took 2 trains back to Tokyo, and then caught another train out to the airport to catch my flight. (Side note: I forgot to mention before. To get to Hakodate the train goes through the Seikan Tunnel, which is the world’s longest undersea tunnel.) Once back in Korea I met up with Allison, who was waiting for her mom to land (her mom flew in, from Tokyo, about a half hour after me). We took the bus back to Ansan, then grabbed a quick dinner. By the time I got back to my apartment it was about 11:15! It was a looong day of travel, but it was gooood week in Japan!

a good book... reeces pieces... coffee... and my i-river... ahhh.... ^^

East Asia: Japan, Part 2: Itsukushima, Hiroshima, and Kyoto

Day 4: Itsukushima and Hiroshima

On Tuesday morning I hopped on another Shinkansen bullet train and headed to Hiroshima. I hopped onto a local train, followed by a short ferry, and visited the small island of Itsukushima, more popularly known as Miyajima. The main reason tourists flock to this small island is the Itsukushima Shrine. It is a Shinto shrine. What makes it unique is the “floating torii (gate)”. During high tide the gate and shrine are surrounded by water. Thus people would pass through the gate via boat. This torii is one of the 3 top photographed sites in Japan. The island itself was quite nice. There were once again deer wandering around, and a nice row of little shops selling all kinds of stuff. I bought a few wooden sake cups for a few friends and sampled “momiji manju”, which are pastries filled with red bean paste (a popular snack-filler in Asia) or custard. They are deep-fried and quite delicious when eaten warm! I ate one of each ^^

After a couple hours I took a ferry back to Hiroshima. Hiroshima has a great streetcar system that I used to head to the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Park (including the amazing Peace Memorial Museum).

I walked around the A-Bomb Dome then crossed the river and wandered through the park for a while. My last stop was the Peace Memorial Museum. At times I actually felt sick to my stomach reading and thinking about the entire event.

After the Peace Memorial Museum I took the streetcar back to the train station, then hopped a train to Kyoto. I found my hostel and settled in for the night, getting some good rest before a full day in Kyoto.

the A-Bomb Dome

the building before and after the atomic bomb

the Korean A-Bomb Memorial; about 10% of those killed were Koreans who were forced labourers

the Children's Peace Memorial

Flame of Peace (couldn't go close as they were working around it); will be extinguished once the last nuclear weapon on earth is destroyed

the Cenotaph, containing the names of all the known victims

I found doritos in a convience store... you don't see the real ones in Korea!

Observation; You can smoke on trains in Japan, so you have to be careful to choose a seat on a non-smoking car if you don’t want to be surrounded by smoke for the entire journey.

Day 5: Kyoto

By far my favorite city in Japan was Kyoto. I’m not fully sure why, and definitely can’t explain it well in words. I think it had to do with so much traditional culture being mixed in with modern culture, in a big city that feels small (if that makes any sense!).

My first stop (after a disappointing breakfast) was Nijo-jo (castle).

(Side note: As I was entering the main gate I ran into a friend from Korea; there were a lot of us English teachers over there as many schools have vacation during the same week. I saw a lot of familiar faces in Kyoto!)

After the castle I headed over to Kinkaku-ji, more famously known as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It is a Zen Buddhist temple.

From there I headed down the road to Ryoan-ji, a Zen temple. It is a popular tourist attraction due to the dry landscape rock garden.

every temple I went to was surrouned by beautiful grounds and gardens

After that stop I hopped back on the bus (the bus system in Kyoto was fantastic) and headed to a handicraft market. Ended up not buying anything, and as I was tired from the heat and not really interested in seeing any more temples (after a while they are feel similar!), I decided to just head to Gion for the evening. Gion is well-known for being a geisha district, and indeed it became a goal of mine to see one. I walked around a great shopping area for a while (taking a break at Starbucks, naturally ^^) and then wandered the Shirakawa Canal area for a while. I saw someone who was possibly a geisha from afar, and decided it was silly to spend hours wandering alone hoping to spot a genuine one. So, I headed back toward the subway. I decided to walk down Ponto-cho, a really neat alley of restaurants and exclusive bars near the Kamo-gawa (river) that runs through Kyoto. As I was walking along, enjoying the ambiance, I saw them: 2 maiko girls! I snapped a photo of them after they passed (I felt too bad to take one directly facing them)… apparently I had my camera on the wrong setting because it came out blurry. Oh well! I stole a photo my friend took later that same night, in the same area; his was much better!

there were little objects that moved telling you when your bus got closer, and when it was arriving - very nice-uh!

Shirakawa Canal

Kamo-gawa

busy shopping area

Ponto-cho

my awful attempt at a photo of the two maiko

the photo I stole from my friend!

After spotting the maiko, I caught a bus back to Kyoto Station, where I snapped a few photos of Kyoto Tower. I enjoyed a scrumptious dessert + cappuccino before walking to my hostel and crashing for the night.

Kyoto Tower and its reflection in the windows of the massive Kyoto Station

Astro boy!

here is the display of desserts I'd walked by a couple times, and could no longer resist!

yummy!

East Asia: Japan, Part 1: Tokyo, Nara, and Osaka

When I used to think of Asia, one of the first countries to pop into mind was Japan. Now South Korea tends to pop into mind first, though Japan is followed soon after. I’ve been in Korea for 3 years now, so I decided that it was about time to hop the pond and visit Japan. Plus I have a friend from college who is currently teaching there, so it was a good time to do so! I spent 9 days there (my entire summer vacation; one negative thing about my job is how little vacation time we get!). I tried to see a lot of the highlights in case I don’t make it back there (which is possible, as it’s so expensive and there are still many countries I want to see).

I ended up visiting: Tokyo, Nara, Osaka, Miyajima, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Hakodate. Thank goodness for the JR Rail Pass; it saved me a lot of money and was also very convenient (and easy) to use.

Day 1: Arrival; Tokyo

I flew out (after a bit of a rough start: I stacked outside the bus terminal and scraped up my knee/top of my foot… and then had to take a cab to the airport as all of the buses were full) late morning and arrived in Japan mid-afternoon (yay for short flights!). I took an airport train into Tokyo, then hopped the subway a couple stops to arrive in Askausa, where I would be sleeping for my first 2 nights in Japan. I came out of the subway stop, attempting to orientate myself and locate my hotel. Turns out I arrived on the day of their huge fireworks festival – thus there were people everywhere, dressed in yukatas, and passing out fans (they had ads on them, but were also great as it was super hot!). It took me a while to locate my hotel; the sign was in Japanese, but I noticed the phone number and realized it was my hotel – I had to go down a side street to actually find it. Once there I discovered that due to this festival I couldn’t check-in until several hours later than planned. I ended up going with a nice French guy to an onsen in order to clean-up a bit, change clothes, etc. I tried to drop my bag off at the hotel afterwards, but they wouldn’t even let me up the stairs. Sigh. So I spent the next few hours attempting to actually see some fireworks (they lasted nearly 2 hours, but it was hard to get to where you could actually see them as there were lots of tall buildings blocking them), carrying around my backpack, and just trying to relax and enjoy the start of my vacation! My flip-flop also ended up breaking that night, which was sad, but I was thankful that I had my backpack (see, the hotel was closed for a reason!) so that I could put on my non-broken flip-flops.

After the festivities ended for the night, I made my way back to my hostel. It was actually a capsule hotel, which was a fun experience. I’m used to sleeping in small capsules as I do most Saturday nights at my favorite jjimjilbang, so it wasn’t really a very new experience for me – but still fun.

view of the streets below, about an hour after the festivities "ended"

Observations: not hard to get around (I’d heard a lot of scary stories regarding this, but turns out there was no reason to worry!)… however, no one spoke English. Not even most of the tourists; they were mostly European.


Day 2: Tokyo

I spent Sunday walking around Tokyo. My first stop was the Imperial Palace. I enjoyed walking around the grounds and snapping pictures for a couple hours before deciding to go find some food. Once I started walking I decided to just walk in the direction of Tokyo Tower, another “must see” site on my short list (I did only have one day!). I ended up at a café for a while where I looked through my great Lonely Planet guide a bit (and cool down…. It was super HOT!) and decided the course for the rest of my day. I did eventually walk past the Tokyo Tower, pausing long enough to take a couple photos. But I decided against waiting in the long line and going up.

inside the gardens

the music building

Tokyo Tower; modeled after the Eiffel Tower

My next stop was Ebisu, where there was a pretty cool mall/shopping area (the Yebisu Garden Complex). After spending some time walking around there (and going up in one of the towers there where I could get a nice, free, view of Tokyo), I headed to Shibuya. The main reason to go to Shibuya is to see the super busy intersection; so I headed into a nice little café where I could get one of the shaved ice + fruit desserts and watch the craziness below when the “walk” lights turned green.

Shibuya Crossing

After checking those areas out I headed back to Asakusa to check out the Senso-ji (temple) and do some shopping. There is a really nice (though rather touristy) area of shops by the temple there. Unfortunately, they close early so I ended up not doing much shopping. The temple did look pretty nice at dusk, though!

my boys are everywhere ^^

Observations: the subway was never busy (seriously). Also, there are a lot of really nice, quiet places to walk around in Tokyo where there are shaded paths and few people.

Day 3: Osaka/Nara/Osaka

On Monday morning I got up early to catch the Shinkansen train to Osaka. Once there I wandered around for a good hour trying to locate the hostel where I’d made a reservation. After sweating in the mid-afternoon heat for way too long, I chose a hostel I’d passed by that had good rates, booked a room, then headed back onto the JR trains and headed to Nara.

Nara was Japan’s first real capital. Thus, there are many sites worth seeing there. It’s also a small town, so it was easy to walk around and see the main sites. There were also deer walking around in a lot of areas; did you know they sound like sheep?! It was fun to pet them, and I took more photos than was necessary of them, too!

I only spent a few hours in Nara, but I saw a few places. The first place I stopped was the 5-story pagoda, which is the second tallest in Japan. This is also when it started to rain. Luckily it never rained very hard, and after an hour or so the rain was completely finished for the day. In fact, I was quite lucky for my whole trip; there was no more rain during my trip (save at night or the day I was on a train all day) until the last night… when I ended up getting soaked, but more on that later ^^

After the pagoda I headed over to the “main attraction” of Nara: Toda-ji, including Daibutsu-den Hall, the world’s largest wooden building. Inside, the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) is one of the largest bronze figures in the world. Also inside is a hole in a wooden column; the popular belief is that if you can squeeze through then you are ensured of enlightenment. I watched one girl go through; she was super excited to make it through! The things some people will believe…

here is the hole I mentioned

My last stop was the Kasuga Taisha (a Shinto shrine). I decided not to pay to go in, so just looked at it from as close as possible.

After that shrine, I headed back to Osaka. I grabbed dinner and walked around a busy shopping area for a couple hours (resisting the urge to shop; which, trust me, was huge a few times). Ended up not doing any real site-seeing in Osaka, but I’m ok with that!

East Asia: 4 Days in the ROC – Formosa Taipei

Not too long after I first came to Korea, I began to hear wonderful things about Taiwan. I’ve had it my head that I wanted to go there since my first year; I actually borrowed a guidebook from my friend and thought about going on a few different occasions. Well, a couple years later, book still in hand (I doubt my friend remembers that I still have it; maybe I’ll return it to him next time I see him!), I finally booked myself a flight to Taiwan and spent a long weekend enjoying a culture that felt familiar, yet also very strange!

I left early on Saturday morning with my friend who was heading to Beijing. We took a cab to the bus terminal and then took an early morning bus to the airport, where we quickly found coffee, paid for our re-entry visas, checked in, then grabbed some breakfast before parting ways for our different flights. It was nice to go to the airport with someone; I’m always by myself on trips!

I arrived in Taiwan a few hours later. It took a long time to get through immigration as my trip took place in early May (during the Children’s Day holiday here in Korea) – the height of the Swine Flu pandemic. I stayed with a couple I met via couchsurfing.com. They picked me up at the airport and then spent all weekend showing me around Taipei. It was wonderful! Free lodging and free travel guides/translators. They were super nice and took me to several places I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to go to on my own, including one area that ended up being my favorite part of the trip. They also took me to, or gave me directions as to how to get to, everywhere/everything I’d mentioned I wanted to go/see/do. They even found me a church to attend on Sunday morning!

The first place they took me was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We stayed to watch the hourly changing of the guards ceremony and glanced around the grounds briefly. I ended up going back the next morning to see more of the grounds. It was a beautiful place to begin my Sunday morning, surrounded by nature and many Taiwanese doing their morning Tai-chi!

Here are photos from both visits:

After the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, my new friends took me to one of the famous markets (Ximending) where they encouraged me to try a snack very similar to patbingsu here in Korea. I also got a free portrait cut of myself by a guy in the street. Pretty sure it’s because I was the only foreigner around! Oh, on the way to the market we passed near the Presidential Office Building and through the 228 Memorial Peace Park.

After the market, we headed over to the Longshan Temple. It was ridiculously packed as it was Buddha’s Birthday. Incense, people, and food everywhere. Very sad to see everyone worshipping statues. After the temple we walked through another market (“Snake Alley”, Huaxi Street Night Market), and then made a stop in Gongguan for dinner (I tried – and shockingly enjoyed – stinky tofu!) before heading back to their apartment for the night.

my boys were all over Taiwan!!!

On Sunday I woke up early, returned to the Chiang Kai-she Memorial Hall for a bit, and then headed back to the Gongguan Area. This area is a cool area; if I ever decide to move to Taipei I would want to be near that area. One of the main universities in Taiwan is located there, which means there are many shops, restaurants, etc in the area. It’s also where the Grace Baptist Church is located, which was my reason for going there on Sunday morning. I arrived about an hour before church, so I stopped in at Starbucks where I ate some breakfast and read for a while. I made my way to the church, arriving just in time for the service to begin. The church felt like a mix of my church in IN and my church here in Seoul.

After church I met back up with my couchsurfer friends. We headed to the National Palace Museum. I’m glad I went, but I’m not really a huge museum fan so I wandered around for only an hour or so before grabbing a quick snack and heading out.

After the museum they took me up to one of their favorite spots, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. We went to the northern part of the Taipei, to the Danshui area. We went to the old hospital of the missionary George Leslie Mackay, the Fort San Domingo, and Oxford College. After walking through those areas, we headed down to the main market area. We walked along the river most of the way, which was relaxing and beautiful. Once we reached the market, they helped me find something vegetarian to eat (see the photo of my deep-fried sandwich below) then headed off to their own dinner. I also tried the tall ice cream cones, but was rather unimpressed. After dinner I drank coffee, wrote a few postcards, and took some pictures while I waited for my great tour guides to meet back up with me.

in the midst of this great market/river side area was a 5-story Starbucks. Sigh.

Our next stop was the hot springs! We went to one in the Beitou area. While we walked up the mountain to the hot spring destination of their choice, we could see steam rising from the grates as a result of all the natural water running under ground. Once we reached the location we had been aiming for (I just followed along!), I got my own private room and tub to enjoy for an hour. The water was sooo hot at first; I ran cold water the whole time I was in there and still had to get out of the tub a lot due to the extreme heat!

On Monday I was on my own as my couchsurfer friends both had to work. My first stop was the Taipei Zoo. I was excited to see the pandas, so was greatly disappointed when I arrived to see a sign reading that the panda exhibit is closed the first Monday of each month! Sigh. I did see Koalas, however, along with the usual zoo animals. It was also a nice walk – a lot of long paths through trees and such.

After the zoo I headed to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. I walked around the grounds there a bit before heading over to Taipei 101. I headed to the top to enjoy the view, and so that I could say I’ve been to the top of the (current) tallest building in the world! Afterwards I headed over to the New York New York mall via a cool walk-way that connects a few of the major shopping malls in that area.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, as seen from the top of Taipei 101

This is a tamper inside Taipei 101 that prevents the building from swaying in the winds.

outside the New York New York mall ^^

Eventually I made my way back to the apartment. I headed to the airport on Tuesday morning and was back in the ROK by mid-afternoon! My short vacation in Taipei was a nice break from life in Korea. However, it felt very nice to be able to communicate again!! It was so hard not understanding even the very basics again, and it was hard to resist responding in Korean when I was spoken to in Chinese! I hope to make it back to Taiwan someday; there are a few places in the country that sound absolutely amazing and I would be more than happy to spend a couple days in Taipei again.

Southeast Asia: Thailand, Part 2 - Phuket

As mentioned in my previous post, I took a flight down to Phuket a couple days into my Thailand adventure. Also, as mentioned above, I was quite ill during my travels. I sat, feeling terrible, for a couple hours in the airport at Bangkok. I managed to not throw up for the short flight down to Phuket, but, unfortunately, didn’t hold it off long after landing. While waiting for the bus from the airport to Phuket Town, I drank 7-Up, ate crackers, and sat with my head between my legs. As a result, I was able to survive the bus ride to town, but once I got there I was feeling pretty ill again. I would have loved to take off with some fellow travelers, but I felt it was more pertinent to find a hotel where I could just crash. And that’s what I did. I had some missionary contacts via a friend of mine from Korea, so I tried looking for the hotels they recommended. However, it was very hot, and my stomach was feeling, well, not good, so I stayed at the first clean, reasonably-priced hotel I found! I cranked up the air con and fell asleep on the bed for many, many hours.

I woke up with midnight feeling very thirsty, so tried calling the room service number. They told me I had to go downstairs and find the restaurant. So, I did. I was able to buy some juice, which I drank happily and quickly, but that was it. Luckily I had some crackers in my backpack, so I ate some of those and drank some water before sleeping through the rest of the night.

The next day I felt a bit better, so I ventured out and looked around at my surroundings. I found the hotel that the missionary contacts had said would be the best for me to stay at, so I booked it for the week I would be there, went back to the other hotel to check out, then carried my backpack to the new hotel. Then I napped. For a long time.

The only thing I actually did on that first full day, other than change hotels, was find an internet café. Exciting, eh?

My second full day was spent doing more walking around the town. I found an internet café that I really liked; it had a great menu and nice atmosphere, so I visited it a lot during my time in Phuket. I also gathered some information on various day excursions.
Here are some photos from Phuket Town:


this is the On On Hotel, one of the settings in The Beach.

the market outside my hotel

the Internet Cafe I liked; they even showed the movie Lonesome Jim one day!

Now, I can’t remember the exact days I went on my various trips, but I do have photos and some memories from each of them!

The first trip I went on was a snorkeling trip around the Phi Phi Islands, which also included the beach from the movie The Beach (I don’t recommend the movie, but the book was fairly good!). We also stopped at a place called “Monkey Beach” where we saw many, many overweight monkeys. It was actually very sad to see; they eat and drink anything the tourists give them, or leave behind. Seems very unhealthy to me. The seas around Thailand are absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed sitting on sandy white beaches and snorkeling in clean, cool waters!

Another tour I took was out to Phang Nga Bay, including James Bond Island, so named due to its appearance in The Man with the Golden Gun. Phang Nga Bay is also featured in the film Tomorrow Never Dies. Guess it’s a popular spot for James Bond. We also had a meal at a muslim fishing village. I once again enjoyed amazing scenery, particularly the limestone cliffs and caves. Before we hit the water, we made at a stop at a place known as “Monkey Cave” where I got to see monkeys up-close and feed them peanuts. So fun! There was also a Buddha in the cave, but I didn’t care to see that. On our way home we stopped at a cashew factory and a gems gallery. Both of those stops were obviously meant to cause us to spend money; I definitely bought some delicious gifts at the cashew factory, but avoided spending any at the gems gallery.

The third, and final excursion I took off the island was with Anda Adventures. I got to feed monkeys (again at Monkey Cave), ride an elephant (perhaps one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done!), hike to a waterfall and swim in its (very cold) waters, and go white water rafting for 5km. Unfortunately I have no photos from the elephant ride or the water-rafting – just a couple from the monkeys and waterfall:

Besides the three trips, I also spent a day at Kata Beach, on the West coast of the island. I spent several hours laying and reading on the beach. I also saw a lot of monks. By the end of that day, I had a pretty bad sunburn. Good thing you can actually find aloe in Thailand (unlike here in Korea)!

While in Phuket I experienced a ride on a “motor bike taxi” (a frightening experience!), did some shopping, and saw a couple of movies (they stand in allegiance to their king before every movie). For the last movie I saw there, I paid a bit extra (about double the usual price) for the “fancy” movie theater. I got free juice before the movie, and then sat in a recliner for the actual movie. I was given a pillow and a blanket, and they brought me cola and popcorn. It was all included in the price of the movie ticket. Fantastic! The movie was awful, but I stayed because I was so comfortable!

I also went to church on Sunday with the missionaries I mentioned before-hand. A couple young women who are also missionaries there translated the service for me (I was impressed with how well they already knew the Thai language!), and I was able to enjoy lunch and conversation with them for a bit after the service.

I was a bit sad, but also ready, to leave Phuket and return to Korea (the long lay-over in Bangkok was not very fun, but I spent it reading, drinking coffee, and doing a bit more shopping – so it wasn’t too bad!). When I landed in Korea there was snow on the ground… sigh, vacation over!