I previously wrote about Gwangjang Market here.
We knew Grammy would love this place when she came to visit!
(She visited back in October.)
Here we go Gwangjang Market with Grammy:

Shopping in the market:
These are Korean Wedding Ducks.
Wedding ducks are a pair of duck carvings, traditionally Mandarin ducks.  They are used in Korean wedding ceremonies and often giving as marriage gifts.  Mandarin ducks are used because it is believed that unlike any other types of ducks Mandarins mate for life and if one of them dies the other will mourn.  I'm not sure for how long, but they mourn. :)  Korean believe the Mandarin ducks represent peace, fidelity and lots of kids.
Female ducks are red, males are green or blue.

The craziness of the market.
Motorcycles in the aisle, no rhyme or reason. 
Blanket stall right next to a food stall.

I'm not sure if this is plastic food molded to look like fish or rice cakes molded to look like fish.

A common site all over Korea.

The nucleus of the market - the FOOD STALLS!
Where Koreans from all over come to eat some of the best and oldest style of street food available in Korea!

Hubby made sure his momma had food...

I made sure she had makkoli!

She had no desire to eat some of the cuisine here:

But she did enjoy the mung bean pancakes!

All in all a great trip to the Gwangjang Market!

To get there:
Jongno-3-ga Station Exit 12. 
Walk straight for a few blocks, you will come to a bigger intersection, look to your right and you will see the entrance to the Gwangjang Market.
 Enter and walk down the alley for quite a while...you will start seeing food stalls, but don't stop until you hit the mother load and start seeing places to sit and eat.  You will know when you have arrived. 
Good luck and happy eating!! :)

Yes, this really is a post about an airport.
Excited, aren't you?
You should be.
Incheon Airport is no ordinary airport.

I can't tell you the number of times I have flown in and out of this airport and each time I find something new, exciting and different.  Before writing this article I briefly (like 30 seconds) considered taking a field trip to Incheon just to take more pictures and find things that are still hidden to me.  Alas, I decided not to and to just go with the knowledge I have in my head and the pictures I have on my card.

Let's start with knowledge:

International Departures and Arrivals are probably the easiest I have experienced of anyplace I have traveled.  The staff is super friendly and very helpful.  Most speak good English.

Do you have a long layover or want to just spend some time at the airport, no worries....there is plenty to do! 
  
Movie Theaters - there is not just one, but TWO movie theaters in the airport!  Don't want to see a movie?  How about going Ice Skating instead.
The Ice Skating Rink is open year round and is in the Transportation Center.  Ice Skating is not your thing?  Did you bring your golf clubs?
The Golf Course -  (They are killing me!) is located in the International business area.  I have no idea how good or big it is...if you decided to hang out there one day please let me know - and PLEASE for the love of God and all things good, TAKE PICTURES and share your experience with me!  :)
If none of these are your thing, how about going to the Spa?
"Spa on Air" - have your first "Korean naked spa experience" (I am assuming it is a naked spa, as I have not been to this spa) here at the airport where you can enjoy saunas, sleeping rooms and massages. The spa is open 24 hours a day so no matter what time you arrive you can enjoy a nice bit of Korean tradition.
Speaking of Korean tradition, why not check out the Korean Culture Museum or have a Traditional Cultural Experience while hanging out at Incheon? Have kids with you?  Stop off at the Children's Playroom!
Have you been on a long flight and need a shower before you can continue on?  No worries, Incheon Airport has thought of everything.  They have showers you can use for a small fee - located at the Transfer Service Complex - 4th floor.  Need to get your hair done after you shower?  Just pop into the Beauty Salon on the bottom floor.  Oh, but before stopping at the beauty salon  you should drop your dirty clothes off at the Dry Cleaners.
I almost forgot to mention the Free WiFi throughout the airport and the Rest & Relax areas where they have lounge chairs (or couches - I'm not sure which they are - they call them loungers) for sleeping.
If all that isn't enough there is FREE Entertainment throughout the airport on most days!

Check out all the things I did/saw on my short walk through maybe 1/16th of the airport.

Welcome to Incheon:  These guys were on the 1st floor singing their hearts out to anyone that would listen.  I stood on the 2nd floor looking over listening in disbelief....a concert in the airport.  Oh, and just for the record, this wasn't the only musical entertainment in the airport. 

Once I went though the gate to the international side this young lady was making sweet music on this Grand Piano!

And she was accompanied by these two lovely ladies.

I really wish I had taken pictures of the shopping...I felt like I was in a mega shopping center instead of an airport.  You can get anything from Burberry, Chanel and Coach to candy & magazines for your trip.  

If you have been following me for a while you know Korea is all about themed coffee shops and the airport is no exception to that policy.  Check out the Charlie Brown Café where you can get coffee and snacks for your trip!

And it wouldn't be Korea if Hello Kitty didn't make an appearance:

So, if you find yourself stuck at the Incheon Airport for any amount of time don't worry - this is a great place to mark a few things off your Korea Bucket List!  :o)

                                                                                    I hate to admit this....
                                                       It is something you might have a hard time believing.
                                                                                    I'm a little ashamed.
                                                                             You are curious aren't you?

Confession: This past weekend was the first time I have gone out into Seoul and watched a movie at a Korean theater.  EVER.

Seriously.

Shocking I know.

When we lived here before movies at the theater on post were FREE.  That's right, they were FREE!!  So we really had no reason to go off post and pay for a movie.

This time around the movies are not free. (Dang it...I really liked that perk!)
 
They are still cheap, ($5USD) but the movie theater is a 'post' style movie theater.  You know, 1950's auditorium style.  The post movie theater kind of reminds me of the auditorium from my High School, but smaller...not that I went to high school in 1950's, heck I wasn't even born in the 50's,  But I'm sure some of you know what I am talking about.  So anyway, since the movie theater on post isn't free anymore I don't feel as obligated to frequent the theater as often...and since the movies off post aren't much more money than the ones on post ($5 vs. 8,000 Won - or $7.52USD) and it is a MUCH NICER theater with ASSIGNED SEATS, cheaper drinks/snacks...PLUS you can get Jagermeister Energy drink at a movie theater in Seoul.  I mean really..what more can one ask for? 

I did a little research and I found out that the movie theater at the Coex Mall is supposed to be the nicest theater in all of Seoul....some say all of Asia.  I can't say as I haven't been to them all.  In fact I have been to none of them.  How about this...I'll let you know if I find a nicer one.

So, trying to see a movie here in Seoul is not as easy as in the states.  You don't show up 1/2 an hour before the movies start to buy your tickets.  You order your tickets online several hours or DAYS in advance to guarantee you get a good seat.   Seriously, people around these parts PLAN their movies outings.  I ordered our tickets online more than THREE HOURS EARLY and this is the text they sent me:

We had to sit on the 2nd ROW!!  NO JOKE!!  Did I mention I ordered tickets more than 3 hours in advance?

To order tickets online anywhere in Seoul go to this website:
Cine in Korea
and you will see how easy it is.
They like it if you have a Paypal account.

This is the entrance to the movie theater.

And then you have to go down stairs to get to the ticket box.

All Korean movie theaters have little ATM type machines where you can buy tickets and print tickets.  We tried to print out tickets there but I couldn't figure it out so I when I went over to the information desk to ask how to print out the tickets they ask for my ticket code and printed them for me.  Easy peasy.

After getting our tickets we headed over to the snack bar for some yummy popcorn and we were intrigued by what all they have to offer.  As you already know you can get Jager Energy drinks, but did you know you can also get a Jager combo for a mere 14,000 won! 

It seems a little crazy to me that the Jager combo is less expensive than the Asahi combo!

And check out their nonalcoholic combos - this has got to be the best kept secret in Korea.   They are AFORDABLE - for movie prices anyway!  2 pretzels, 2 sodas & a popcorn for 9,500 won!  I'm super excited about this!

We ended up buying a popcorn combo...2 types of popcorn, 2 sodas and a hotdog for 12,000 won!
That is right...2 types of popcorn!
Cheese and caramel baby!
I liked the cheese more and Hubby liked the caramel more.
He says it is because I am cheesy and he is sweet. 
I'm not sure I agree with that. 

Isn't this bucket of popcorn AWESOME!?! 
Oh and the popcorn.... 
A M A Z I N G ! !
It was so good I wanted to go out and buy butter popcorn when we finished this bucket, but I resisted.
This way I have another 'new' thing to experience the next time we go to a Korea movie theater.

OH....I almost forgot to tell you.
There was NO CANDY counter!
How great is that?

A few weeks ago Hubby and I went to see the musical Miso at the Chongdong Theater in the City Hall area of Seoul.  While out on that adventure we stumbled upon the Seoul Museum of Art and then we noticed this:

Tim Burton in Seoul, South Korea?!  Yes please!  We knew we would go back.  So yesterday Hubby had a day off work  so we grabbed a cab and headed out (might I add that yesterday, 18 Jan was the 21st anniversary of our first date...can I get a collaborative ahhhhh.....  :o)

The Tim Burton exhibit is on the last leg of its tour - the grand finale is here in Seoul!  It started in New York, went to Melbourne, Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris and now here - saving the best for last!  If you haven't seen it you have until April 14th, 2013 before it is wrapped up and shipped back home.  I wonder where Mr. Burton keeps all his goodies when they are not on tour.  I would LOVE to see his house.      

                                               The entrance to the museum - check out the windows.

Aren't they fun?!

I want some for my windows.
You know, just for fun.

This is the first thing  you see when entering the museum.
What movie is he from?

And this is where you give your ticket to enter the world of Tim Burton!
Do you have any idea what the red thing is? 

It's his tongue! 
I hate to admit this, but Hubby had to point that out to me.
I'm not sure I would have ever figured that out.  I would have just thought is was red weirdness.

I wish I could have taken pictures inside the exhibit.  Oh my goodness - how cool it was and before today I was never a HUGE Tim Burton fan.  He has over 800 pieces on exhibit and 90% of it was from his private collection.  I saw his first 'rejection' letter from Walt Disney Studios - they liked his first book although they thought it might be a little too much like Dr. Seuss, although it was good....  He had that first book on display too.

He shared many of his childhood drawings, and TONS of napkin drawings!  They had his personal drawings set up in themes, couples, men, women, pirates, numbers, aliens and more.  I giggled many times at the words he wrote to go with the drawings and many times I thought of my own Boy 2 and how goofy he is when he puts titles with his works of art.  Maybe I should start saving all this silly stuff.....you know, just in case he has a collection of his own someday.   One that really made me laugh was a picture of something shooting a poodle - the poodles body was split in half and there were brown pieces all over the paper it said (these are most likely not the exact words) "Never shoot a constipated poodle".   Bahahaha!  Gross I know.

Hubby and I had a great time even though it was CRAZY busy.  I forgot that Friday's are field trip days for Korean schools.   There were so many little people all over the place.  If you go, you should try to go during the day on  Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  I've heard you have to wait up to an hour on weekends just to buy your tickets!   

OK...How much do you LOVE these couches?  Are you flashing back to 1977?  We cracked up when we saw them, but then we sat on them.....OH MY GOODNESS, they are SO COMFORTABLE! 
I think I want them for our basement, you know, when we get a basement. 
These had nothing to do with the Tim Burton exhibit, this was just a lounging area in the museum!  I love Korea.

The exhibit runs through Sunday 14 April 2013
They are open from 10:00-20:00 (Tue-Fri) / 10:00–18:00 (Weekends, Public Holidays) / Closed Mondays/ and open 10:00 – 22:00 on the 1st-3rd Tuesdays
The cost is W12,000 Adults / W10,000 Teens / W8,000 Children under 12
To get there by subway:  Line 2 to City Hall Station exit 2  -  turn right at the corner of the palace and follow the palace wall until it ends - at this point you will come to a 't' intersection - you will see The Seoul Museum of Art on your
left!

BUT....just before you turn left to go into the museum, make sure you check out this sweet little family.  They crack me up and freak me out all at the same time.

Here is their story:

Happy 21 Anniversary of our first date Hubby. Here's to many, many more!  :o)
(PS...we met on the 17th of Jan 21 years ago - our first day was about 12 hours later.)

Welcome to Korea where temps don't get much higher than freezing on any given day from Dec-Feb.
Yesterday it was actually warm, 34 degrees F, but it started snowing early in the day and it didn't stop till sometime in the middle of the night.
If I had not made reservations for the show Miso it is possible that last night could have turned into a  'Dexter' night.
(We just started season 7 of Dexter, and OH MY GOODNESS.  I'm so rooting for Dexter.  Don't judge me.)
ANYWAY...back to MISO!
Of course had to catch an outside train.
The deck was covered.

We took line 2 to City Hall Station and went out exit 2 (don't listen to other blogs, they renumbered the exits -WHY?!?!), this is what we saw to our left:  

And this is what we saw to our right:
The Deoksugung Palace.
(Doesn't it look magical with all the snowflakes?)

To get to the Chongdong Theater you will need to turn right at the corner of the palace and follow the palace wall until it ends - at this point you will come to a 't' intersection - you will see The Seoul Museum of Art on your left  - and a street on your right - continue going straight for about another minute you will see the Chongdong Palace on your right:

How it works...you make a reservation on THIS WEBSITE. 
You do not get seat assignments until you arrive at the theater and pay for your tickets.  The box office opens 1 hour prior to the show. There are 2 shows a day 5 & 8PM, ever day EXCEPT Monday.

Hubby and got to the theater early, paid for our tickets and headed out for a little grub.  We stopped at the first place we found a little Korean hole in the wall. (We continued walking straight past the theater and it was the first restaurant on the right.)  The food was YUMMY!    We got some kind of spicy boiled chicken.  (You will see the menu on the next "not quite right" post.)  This entire pot was 23,000 won and it was more than we could eat.  If we had not been going to a show we would have ask for a to go box.

            After dinner we met up with our great friends to get our Korean culture on at the Chongdong palace!
Miso is a love story set up in the Joseon Dynasty  - girl loves boy, another boy loves girl, girl goes to jail and is beaten because she loves the wrong boy - love prevails in the end!  The costumes are traditional, colorful and beautiful! The choreography was fantastic, the lighting great, the orchestra was spot on. There was laughter, crying and everything in between! There was Korean traditional dancing & opera style singing!  Just fun, fun, fun! Overall I think we all had a great time at Miso and would recommend it to anyone above the age of 12.  

After the show it was snowing EVEN MORE!  Here we are in front of the ice skating rink at City Hall. We considered skating, but the line was FOREVER long - we decided in the end that we will go during the day and take the kids...

Let me get a few things out of the way right off the bat:
1. Pictures are G rated.
2. I wasn't sure if I could take pictures or not, so I was trying to be sneaky about it.
3. Because of #2, the picture quality is VERY POOR.

Thursday night hubby and I had an impromptu date night.
Hubby knew I had been stressed an KNEW I needed a massage (since I kept asking him to do it) so he suggested we head out to the Dragon Hill Spa - aka - Naked Spa to me - jimjilbang to Koreans.
I was game until the little boys started fighting right before we left...I didn't want to leave them with big brother, Boy 1 during their fighting session but both Boy 1 and Hubby assured me that Boy 1 would be fine and had everything under control.  I, on the other hand wasn't sure I would be able to relax knowing there was turmoil in our house. 
But something odd happened as soon as we drove away from the house, those fears disappeared and I didn't think about it again until we got home and at that point all children were nestled, all snug in their beds.... (while visions of sugarplums danced in my head....)
The point - sometimes Hubby does know best.  :o)

OK...so we drove to the Dragon Hill Spa.
I can't give you driving direction yet - I'll get back to you.
Anyway - once you find your way to the parking garage, take a ticket - park - take ticket inside with you to have your parking validated.

Upon arrival Santa was waiting to greet us! 

Once you arrive it is 10,000 won to enter.
You get some groovy looking PJ's to wear in the common area and you get a locker key wristband. 
Your first stop is here:

The shoe lockers. 

Take your shoes off before stepping onto the nice floor and put them in your shoe locker. 
Your locker number will be the same for your shoe locker and your clothing locker.

After you put your shoes  away continue walking straight, then turn left up the ramp, then turn right to get on the elevator. Kiss your loved one good-bye.  If you are female take the FEMALE ONLY elevator. Male, take the MALE ONLY elevator. (Yeah, I think you could have figured that out on your own.)  Go to floor 3.

Exit the elevator and take a right to head to the lockers.
This is where you strip down to what you came into this world wearing.

OWN IT.

PRETEND you know what you are doing and that you are comfortable with your nakedness.

Toss your *little-bity* hand towel over your shoulder and strut your stuff down one flight of stairs to the 'wet spa' area.

If you brought your own toiletries take them with you - if you did not stop at the little 'concession stand' of toiletries before you head downstairs.  You can purchase items here at the spa.  I wasn't prepared so this is what I bought:

You don't need cash, just your wristband locker key.  

Everything you buy is scanned to your wristband locker key.

I felt these items were a little pricy and normally I bring my own things, but like I said 'impromptu' date night. 
Scrubbing pad was 1,000 won, face cleaner 1,400 won and shampoo 2,400 won.  So it didn't break the bank, but really 2,400 for shampoo?  Is there gold in it?  Is it even shampoo - it say 'hair pack' so I'm assuming, but really,  I guess I will never know for sure? It was thick and creamy more like conditioner...

Anyway, head downstairs and you will see a treatment room straight ahead....this treatment room is where you sit on a 'pot' and wear a big pink plastic cover (they type you wear when you get your hair cut). 
Don't go in that room unless you want to have your lady parts cleaned.
Turn right and go through the double glass doors.
Walk straight past all the naked people - keep going until you arrive to the area where you see ladies sitting on stools taking showers and scrubbing one another.
Find an empty stool, sit down and shower. 
Don't take a normal 'American style' shower where you are done in 3-5 minutes, you need to take SUPER LONG shower.  Scrub yourself, wash your hair, scrub yourself, shave your pits, scrub yourself, wash your face, scrub yourself shave your legs, scrub yourself...you get the idea. 
If you take a friend, you need to scrub each other.  No joke. Just go with it. 
I was by myself and I saw a little old lady eyeballing me - I think she felt bad for me because I was there all alone. If I hadn't got up to leave I think she would have come over and helped me scrub.  It's just their culture.  You help each other in the shower.
I showered and scrubbed for a good 15 minutes, but the ladies that were there before me were STILL there scrubbing and cleaning each other when I left.
I felt bad, almost dirty like I didn't clean myself enough.

After all the scrubbing I went and hung out in a couple of the hot tubs before meeting back up with Hubby in the common area.
 
The tubs range from FREEZING cold to BURNING HOT!  I did a little of them all.

In the 'wet area' you can get spa treatments - from cleaning your lady parts, to body scrubs, massages, facials and more  (read about my first adventure here).  The body scrub is 20,000 won and they remove several layers of skin leaving you feeling disgusted that so much dead skin could come off of you and you being to wonder why you didn't scrub your  own skin harder during the 'showering part'....after your scrub you check to make sure you have skin left and when you touch yourself you wonder why you don't get this done more often.  Your arms feel as smooth as a baby's bottom.

After a little relaxing in the hot tubs downstairs I went back to the lockers, put on my rockin' PJ's, grabbed my Kindle and headed upstairs to meet up with my boyfriend.  :o)

I snuck this picture in the girls locker room.

When I headed to the common area I found Hubby half asleep in a massage chair.  He wasn't ready to eat so I head in for a sports massage in the common area.. 

This is the entrance to the massage area. 

I had a 60 minute sports massage for 60,000 won.
It was WORTH.EVERY.PENNY.
After my massage I found hubby and we headed to dinner. 
There are 3 restaurants in the spa.
We chose the Korean restaurant:

Mmmmm, dinner! 

So even though we didn't spend a lot of quality time together during this date we still had a wonderful time.
If you choose to come to the Dragon Hill Spa for date night there is a ton to do.  
In the common area they have a movie room, sleeping room, all kinds of saunas, an internet café, a swimming pool, play area for small children, 3 restaurants, a couple of snack bars, TV's, a big room with heated floors for you to lay on and read or eat on.  They also have the treatment room for massages, facials, manicures, pedicures and more.  There is a gym and a driving range!  I think you have to be a member to use the gym & driving range, although I am not sure. You can spend an entire day OR night here.... 

In the end we ended up spending:
20,000 won entry free
And then our bill for dinner, massage, toiletries, massage chairs ended up being right at 90,000 won. 
Parking was free.
So in the end you can make this as inexpensive or as lavish a trip as you would like.  :o)

I think I want to go back next week....
Anyone want to go with me?

PS....weekend and weeknights are super busy - daytime is less busy.

                                                              It's the most wonderful time of the year!

If you have been around for a while then you know how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the flower market at the Express Bus Terminal.  I just love filling my house with beautiful (and super cheap) fresh flowers. The flower market was one of the things I was most excited about when moving back to Korea!  I mean where else can you get 10 roses for 2-3,000 won - or lilies for 3-5,000 won - or gladiolas for 3 - 5,000 won....I could go on and on, but you have heard it all from me before.  

But what you may not have heard as much about is the 'other side' of the flower market. I refer to the 'other side' as 'Michaels on Steroids'. Seriously.  You can get almost anything there from candles, amazing fake fruit, arts and craft stuff, fake flowers, baskets, wrapping paper, ribbon, boxes, bags and SO MUCH more (imagine me saying that super fast without taking a breath....)  Just typing about it makes me smile from ear to ear.   I am in love with the flower market on a normal day, but then when fall is over and winter is on the way the flower markets turns into a magical place of Christmas, Christmas and MORE CHRISTMAS!  There is a different feeling in the air - an almost magical feeling....

So if you are new to Seoul (or not) and you didn't (or did) bring all your Christmas treasures with you, hop on a bus, or take the subway to the Express Bus Terminal, head up to the 3rd floor and enter a winter wonderland......

(Just a reminder - the flower market sides opens about 1AM and closes about 1PM - I know the 'Michaels on Steroids' side opens later, around 9AM and I'm not sure what time it closes.)

Happy shopping & Merry Christmas!!

GYEONGNAM, that's the name of the team they played back on October 7th when we attended this game! (Thank you Google!)  How could I forget that?  And I think FC Seoul won, don't quote me on that, but I think it is true - there was lots of smoke in the stadium that day, so I'm pretty sure it was a winner!

As with many great adventures in Seoul this one started with a subway ride where you really get to know the person standing next to you.....

Hop on subway line 6 and get off at Seoul World Cup!  It is THAT easy!  Once you get off the subway just follow the signs to Seoul World Cup Stadium!  Go up this super high escalator...

And when you get off you will be here:

I mean how cool is it to be in Seoul World Cup Stadium which was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup?!?!

You can buy tickets in advance or you can just purchase them at the window. 

Ticket prices are start as high as ￦20,000 for reserved seats in the West Stands but also go for as low as ￦10,000 in the North stands and only ￦3,000 for kids.  They didn't charge for Boy 3 who is 7 years old....I'm not sure this is normal, and we did tell them several times his age - so maybe children 7 and under are free?  I have no idea and just went with it after they gave us the little 'x' with their fingers several times.

I just ask Boy 3 what his favorite part of soccer games are and he answered  "When they make a goal, they make fire!"
It is true, when they make a goal here they shoot off flares in the stands.  The first time I saw this it freaked me out a little, but now it is just SUPER COOL! 

OH, and check out the cheerleader...
More specifically, check out her shoes.

Time for chow....this is the closest thing they have to hot dogs.
The great thing about professional games in Korea - you can bring in your own food and drinks.

Unfortunately I blogged about this a few days late.  It appears the last game of the season was just 3 days ago.  But don't worry, they start back up in March!  So start making plans for the spring to attend your first FC Seoul game - you won't be disappointed! 

Really in the end it is all about good fun, great memories and happy kids.
FC SEOUL! 

              After taking the kids to the Trick Eye Museum, we ventured out to Pet Alley in Dongdaemun.
Pet Alley: where you can find anything you ever wanted for a pet and several things you never wanted for a pet. 
                                                                PETA would have a field day here.

Well, they are kind of like hamsters.

Hens, roosters and chicks, oh my!

Birds anyone?  There are THOUSANDS of them here!

If you are looking for fish, this is the place to go.  You can get fresh water or salt water fish.

I love this guy....I wish he hadn't been so big.  I love that it looks like he has Chinese writing on him.

BEAUTIFUL.

I totally thought these frogs were plastic.  They are not - they are REAL!!!

I love these little smilie face crabs! :)

Hermit crabs anyone?

Really?  Water bugs for sale?  Who would have thought?

We had told our kids we would buy them a milk snake in Korea.....we didn't realize they were going to be almost 200,000 won!  Aggg....something we had to go back on.  I just can't see spending that much money on something we will be giving away in 2 years.  I hate going back on my word.....

After keeping the kids out all day we thought we should feed them, and what better food to eat than street food?!

We have wanted to try these French fry covered corn dogs for a long time, and tonight was the night!  Now I know his face doesn't look like he is all that excited, but let me tell you we all LOVED the French fry corn dog!  We liked it better than the other corn dog, I'm not sure what the other one is....maybe panko covered?  Anyway, the French fry dog was the best!   (The other one was good too, and it will do when the French fry one isn't around.)

Then we tried a little processed meat on a stick.  We really don't know what it was, but it was good and Boy 2 liked it more than he liked the French fry corn dog.

Hubby had some sort of fried kimchi...again, another winner! 

To get to pet alley  - take exit 6 Dongmyo subway stop....walk straight, cross a couple of alleys, continue to the big intersection.  Turn right JUST BEFORE you cross the Cheonggyecheon stream.  You will be walking with pet alley on your right and the Cheonggyecheon stream on the left.

Last week I had the honor of being invited to the 62nd Anniversary of Seoul Recovery and Fashion Show at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul.  I was able to sit pretty close to the front and was given a headset so I could listen to the English translation.

                                                   Opening ceremonies....Korean drum performances.

  School girls honoring the Korean War Veterans by giving them boutonnieres to wear on their jackets. 

When the Korean War Vets were coming out, we (the American's & other countries) all stood and applauded as they were passing by.  There were hundreds of vets so this took about 5 minutes.  After a while, the ushers and the announcer ask us all to sit down.  This was very hard for us to do, as we wanted to honor them by standing.  I'm wondering what the custom is here and how it differs in this country where the elderly are revered.

After many speeches there was a fashion show that  "showed the  changes in Korean Military Uniforms, as well as the  gorgeous Court Costumes  from the Three Kingdoms Period to the present."

This Vet cracked me up!  He walked around like he owned the place.  Walking up to the stage, pushing his way in front of the professional photographers and on the stage to take pictures!  He was awesome!  He also spent a bit of time taking pictures of the "American" section.  It was great fun - I totally posed for him.  :)

Towards the end of the show it started to drizzle.  As soon as it did the ushers appeared with a box of rain jackets and passed them out to everyone in the audience!  How awesome is that?  Especially since none of us brought our umbrellas!

Closing ceremonies: ROK Marine Drill Team

The designer