I've wanted to take Hubby to the horse races every since I went back in October.  I'm glad it finally worked out.  We had a great day together!

If you are interested in going here are a few tips for you:

To get there by subway, take subway line 4 to Seoul Racecourse Park station, go out exit 2 and follow the crowd down the covered walkway to the track.  Races happen most Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30AM  to 5:30PM.  You can check here for the 2010 schedule.

Here I am in the Seoul Racecourse Park subway station.

:
The cost is a mere 800 won to get in.

If you are a foreigner, take your passport, and you will be able to get into the foreigner's lounge on the 4th floor.  I suck at giving North, South, East, West directions, so when you are standing in front of the building - where they parade the horses before each race:

Go inside then turn left & go to the far end of the building (make sure you are on the 4th floor).  While walking look for the "Foreigners Lounge" on the right.

Here is a picture of Hubby sitting in the foreigner's lounge.  It is super nice and the sweet ladies at the desk will help you figure out what to do, IF you ask them. 

You will also need to ask them for "the simple guide to betting".  Not that simple, but fun to figure out!  ;-)

This is what your betting card looks like... follow the directions in your guide.  There is also a big sheet of paper that gives you information on all the races for the day you are there, sorry I forgot to take a picture of it.

After you fill out your betting slip take it to the betting window where you give the lady behind the glass your ticket and your money...

then she will give you this money ticket:

You then take both your tickets: your betting ticket and your money ticket to the machines beside the betting window, press ENGLISH and follow the instructions.

You will get your money ticket back.

Now that you have figured it all out, sit back and enjoy the races!

And if you are lucky, maybe, just maybe you will win some won!!  (To collect your money take your money ticket back to the betting window and give it to the lady behind the glass again.)

A few other things worth mentioning....
If you want to fit in, dye your hair black and don't wear red...can you find me?

If you are hungry or thirsty, never fear, there are tons of convenience stores and places to eat.  The food is a little pricy here.  It is OK to bring a sack lunch to the races.  OH, and there is plenty of time between races to go exploring!

And last but not least, have a great time at the races!!

I've been spending a lot of time at the fabric market lately, and I mean A LOT of time!  I have probably gone to the fabric market at least 12 times in the past 2 months, and I still have one more trip to go. What am I doing you ask?  Well, I will tell you but before I do you have to understand a few things about the fabric market..... This place is HUGE it is 6 floors high including the basement and is 3 buildings wide.  I admit shopping in Korea is overwhelming, but the fabric market takes it to a new level of OVERWHELMING, and this is especially true if you don't have one ounce of sewing talent in you.   The fabric market is EASY to get lost in, it is a lot like the streets of Seoul, there are little alleys all over the market...I see something shiny and I take off through another alley, before I know it I forget about leaving a trail of bread crumbs and am off in the land of thread not knowing where to go next....

I take a few more turns and I find zippers of every size & color!  Not that I would ever know how to put a zipper in, it is just nice to know they are there in case I ever need one.  I see more sparkles and take off in a new direction.....

HOLY COW...I'm in the land of buttons!!

Another turn takes me to more fabric than I have ever seen in my lifetime.

By this time my head is spinning, the next turn I make takes me to tassel, piping & curtain rod alley! 

Not knowing what to do next, I see and elevator and hop on board, only to find this sweet young lady asking me which floor I want to go to...Goodness, I have no idea, just pick one!

I land on the top floor, floor 5 and think to myself, is this a transporting elevator? Because when we landed I no longer found fabric, buttons, zippers, thread, yarn or tassels.  I am now finding myself in what appears to be a large costume jewelry shop.  If you are into making jewelry, this is your lucky floor. I've never see so many things to make jewelry in my life!  I don't even know what you call half of  this stuff! 

If you are not into making your own jewelry, no worries, they will make it for you....

The jewelry floor wasn't really what I was looking for, so I headed back down and this time I took the stairs.....next floor  ( I have no idea where I am at this point) LACE!

and more fabric!!
Check out the delivery delivery man....

I've had enough...it is time to go home, only to find we have been blocked in....

But no worries, when someone blocks you in here in Korea they always leave a phone number in the window for you to call them, or in this case, they just left the keys in the car so the attendants could move it.

I know, I know, you still have no idea why I went to the fabric market, at this point I couldn't remember either.....

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles everywhere!  For Valentine's day I took the kids to see Fan Yang's Bubble World!   I had no idea how big this show was until my friend Amanda set it up for us - thanks Amanda!  At first I thought this was just a Korean adventure, but once I looked at the website I realized you can see this show in the US as well!  Do you know how many things are in the Guinness World Record book that has to do with bubble? TONS!  They have even put an elephant in a bubble!  Crazy.  I wish they would have done that at our show, but no such luck. Before the show we got to play with bubbles (inside the building, something I never let my kids do, so they thought this was super cool), this girl was in the show.  She was so cute! 

This is a GREAT show for young children!   The kids LOVED it!  If you are here in Korea and want to go see it  there isn't much speaking and when they do speak they have English sub titles, so no worries about understanding things, plus, it really is all about the bubbles!

Happy Valentine's day to the love of my life!   Wow - this was our 18th Valentine's together, can you believe that? Thanks for a great evening!

We only have 1 month left here in Seoul, so we are trying to make the most of it.  Saturday night we went to the Millennium Hilton Hotel for a fantastic dinner with some wonderful people!  We ate at Cilantro where we had the dinner buffet.  If you have not experienced the Millennium Hilton in Seoul, it is worth it!  The atmosphere was perfect for groups of friends or families, the service was fantastic (by Korea standards) and the food was delicious!  We had Alaskan king crab, with the shells already cut for easy eating, tuna, halibut and salmon sashimi, prime rib, beef kalbi, duck mouse in a puff pastry, beef tartare and so much more!   I even found a new wine I love thanks to Eric & Lisa! 

After dinner we headed to Myeong-Dong to see the show Nanta!

I've been wanting Hubby to see Nanta for over a year now  (I saw it with Boy 1 last year), but I just never got around to taking Hubby, that is until it hit me that we are REALLY moving and SOON!  Nanta is great fun; the setting is in a kitchen where four chefs are preparing food for a wedding.  While preparing food, they use anything they can find to make music!  From knives to pots and pans to trash cans and each other!  It is slap stick comedy at its best!  If you live here I would highly recommend you go see it!  It is great for people of all ages!

After the show T and I really wanted to shop, but we had the guys with us.  Here is a little preview of Myeong-Dong  (Molly, you are going to LOVE Myeong-Dong!)

We ended the night at JJ Mahoney's in the Seoul Grand Hyatt.  JJ Mahoney's is a great place to listen to live music.  The band that is playing there now is FANTASTIC!  Here is a link to their FB page.  They will be playing at JJ Mahoney's through 10 April, 2010 ~ go see them, however if you are going to drink, be prepared to spend a bundle!!  We bought the first round of drinks ~ 4 drinks, 77,000 won!!  Holy crap!

This year Hubby and I were super excited to go to the fish market on New Year's Day for fresh shucked oysters!  I wish this could be a yearly tradition, but I'm not sure that is possible since we will be living in CENTRAL TEXAS next New Year's Day.

About 200 fresh shucked oysters, and when I say fresh shucked, that is what I mean.  The little old lady is shucking as you are buying. We bought all of these for 30,000 won (just under 30 USD).

While we were there I grabbed this luscious piece of tuna.

Just when I think I have done about everything there is to do in Seoul a friend tells me about the horse races!   After she told me about the races, she decided not to go. (That guilty mom thing.)  Well, after much talk, I talked her back into going (that guilty friend thing).  So one Saturday in late October Amanda and I boarded a bus with International Women's Club of Seoul and headed to the races!

For those of you that know the area, the racetrack is by Seoul Grand Park, AKA - the zoo.  To get there by subway, take subway line 4 to Seoul Racecourse Park station, leave by exit 2 and follow the crowd down the covered walkway to the track.  Races happen most Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30AM  to 5:30PM.  The entrance fee to the park is 1,000 won.

Just so you know, H1N1 is in full force here in Seoul, so it was no surprise to see these guys at the entrance.....

We had to laugh when we were handed this "Simple Introduction to Betting on the Horse Races".

We were not sure what this sign was saying to us...

Amanda placing her first bet.

Figuring it all out....

Parading the horses -

And they race...

Since you can bring coolers anywhere you go here in Korea, I made up a batch of Basil-Lime Martini's to share.

Here we are having a little celebration after our horses won!

Hubby and Boy 3 at an overview, Boy 3 was terrified that his Daddy was going to drop him.  During this picture he was yelling "I don't like it!"

And we made it!!

Oh baby, I can't wait.  Here she is heating it up for me! 

Oh boy, I can't wait!!    She even cut it up into bite size pieces and put it in a bag. 

After eating our way down the hill, we took a trail back down to the bottom.  It is hard to believe these next pictures were taken right in the middle of such a busy city!

This was a great way to end summer vacation!

Once we arrived in Pyongtaek, we took a cab to Camp Humphreys.  If you are going, ask the cab driver to take you to K6.  (This is the gate you will need to enter through.)  Once you arrive,  walk through the gate, and it is a pretty straight shot...between buildings, only about a 1-2 minute walk.  Here is a picture of our group before entering the park.

Girl wants everyone to know she went off the high dive ELEVEN times!!

Boy 2 finally worked up the nerve and went off the high dive 4 time!  (I didn't get a picture of him on the high dive though).

Boy 3 couldn't get enough of the water slides.....

The kids and I had such a great day, we can't wait to go back next week.  Thanks to Boy 1 for being such a great help to me!  (Notice how much taller he is than I am!)

 Upon exiting the subway station, the concessions were out!  To our surprise the sales were not kimbap & dried quid, they were selling DUNKIN DONUTS!  Now don't get too excited Twin, this is as close as Hubby got to them...taking a picture of me.
  ;-)  (Notice the stadium at the top of the picture?)

Getting ready to go in....

One thing I can say about FC Seoul fans is they have
S P I R I T ! ! !

I don't know who these guys are, but I love their spirit!

OK, get this....anytime FC Seoul scores, the fans light flares!!  Seriously!  When I saw the 'fire' I thought for sure this fan was going to get thrown out, but no!  They even sell the flares....go figure!

Twin, Hubby ask me to take this picture for you.....
This was on the board right after he scored.

In the end, FC Seoul pulls it out! 

Having fun while waiting in line.

Peanut Hotdog?  We had no idea what this was, but had to try it.  Girl LOVES the peanut hotdog.  It is just like a corndog, but instead of corn bread on the outside they use peanut bread.  Yes, peanuts in the bread, and oh so greasy.

Taco & Burrito set?  No thank you, I will pass.

This is why Korean children are so well behaved.

This picture was taken from the 'hot air balloon' ride.  See the 3 little dots (yellow, blue and orange) just under the blue ledge?  Those are the balloons.

We were trying to figure out how to get into the Ball Battle pit....this sign wasn't much help.  After a little while I realized it meant the entrance is on level 1.

Boy 3 & Girl on the 'Merry-Go-Barf'.

After hanging out at Lotte World for most of the day, the kids and I headed upstairs to Toys-R-Us for a little shopping! Waaa---hooo!!  The kids were totally excited to see this place!