I'm pretty sure most of you are tired of hearing about the fish market. Sorry about that, but I feel it needs to be mentioned one more time. You see, I really thought my SIL would never in a million years want to go to the fish market. I thought I was going to have to drag her there kicking and screaming. To my surprise, she went willingly, and even seemed to enjoy herself (ok, that's a stretch). She never once pinched her nose to keep the smell away, and the only time she flinched was when she saw a fish monger "taking care" of a fish.
Oh, and check out what we picked up for dinner.....this was heavenly. All this tuna cost 20,000 won. That is only $16 USD. You can't even imagine how fresh this tuna was....there was NO SMELL to it AT ALL, OH BABY!
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It has been over a year since I have been wanting to meet Dr. Fish and have him nibble on my toes. A couple of days ago while shopping with the in-laws in Osan we ran across Dr. Fish, so I KNEW we had to go inside to meet him, or them, and here they are a whole little tank full of Dr. Fish..... Doctor fish eat the dead skin off your feet and lower legs, originally they were used in patients with psoriasis, removing the dead skin so new healthy skin could grow. Over time doctor fish have become a popular spa treatment in Japan, South Korea, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the list goes on. I couldn't wait to plunge my toes into this tank of fish! As soon as I did, a swarm of little fish came to meet me. HOLY COW, these little guys TICKLE!!!! I have never in my life experienced a tickle like this tickle! As soon as Hubby put his feet in the tank he started laughing like a little school girl, and he wasn't the only one as you can see in the pictures below! How fun is this?! This is something EVERYONE MUST experience! Oh my goodness it was great! The laughter was contagious. I can only imagine what the salon sounded like after Twin & SIL joined us. I am very thankful we were the only people in the entire place! Once Twin joined it, the pressure was off of us because all the doctor fish swam over to him and started feasting! Twin must have LOADS of dead skin on his feet and legs because they LOVED him! I must admit, this treatment was a little 'fear factorish', Boy2 and Boy Cousin were both a little freaked out and could not put their feet in...they kept trying, but just could not do it. We offered the boys 10,000 won to put their feet in for 10 seconds, so finally just as everyone was getting out, and the offer of 10,000 won was about to be taken off the table, Boy 2 did it, he put ONE foot in and keep it there for 10 seconds (while giggling like a little school girl)!
It is exactly what it sounds like, mud, mud, mud and more mud! We've been waiting for over a year to go to this festival, and it was well worth the wait! This was the 12th annual mud festival on Daecheon Beach, about a 2.5 hour drive from Yongsan. We loaded a bus at 7AM on Saturday morning and headed out. If you are looking to go, there are many ways to get there, you can drive, take one of the many tours offered on post (if you are military), or you can take the train or a city bus. If you want to go, check out their website here, to figure it out. Heading to the festival.....the boys were not excited about dragging this cooler all the way to the beach, however the basil-lime martinis were in that cooler and there was no I was going to let them leave those on the bus! Plus, they were pretty happy to have the cooler when lunch time rolled around. Here we are getting our 'mud on'! After we all got our 'mud on'! Boy 3 being thrown out of the mud pit. Washing off and playing in the yellow sea....(I know it doesn't look very yellow to me either) Only to get muddy again! Hanging with my 'Navy' buddies. Remember in previous post how I told you the Koreans LOVE our little blondies? Well, the paparazzi was out of control at the mud festival! We couldn't do anything without them being right there. Just check it out in the two pictures below. In the 2nd picture Boy 3 was really working them. Boy Cousin doing the limbo! Everyone had a great time at the mud festival. Thanks to the Navy for letting us be the 'token Army family' on their bus! And the last picture I will leave you with is of a typical Korean woman. She is wearing heels & her Prada sunglasses at mud festival! You gotta love Korea!
While my sisters were here we packed in as much as we could - a few of the other things we did were: Did lots of shopping and eating in Iteawon. Took K & T on their very first ever subway ride. Went to the aquarium at the COEX mall. Went shopping in Osan for a second time. (K had to get another suitcase to take her goods home.) Went pottery shopping in Yeoju. And we lost T again, this time she had Boy 3 with her. Here I am finding them...they were lost among all the kimchi pots. That's it....1 month of fun packed into a very short 10 day vacation. Thanks for visiting T & K!!!
If you live here or are just visiting the Seoul City Bus Tour is something I think everyone should do!! (No, I don't work for the city of Seoul.) The tour is only 10,000 won per person. It runs from 9AM-9PM and there are something like 35 stop on the tour, there is NO WAY you can do everything on this tour in one day. If you want to take the tour, you can catch the bus anywhere you see this bus stop..... Most likely I will not be standing by the bus stop, but you never know. The stops my sisters and I made were: The War Memorial Namsangol Hanok (traditional Korean house) Village Namsan (Seoul) Tower Changgyeonggung Palace Insa-dong We barely scratched the surface. Here are T & K at the War Memorial. Namsangol Hanok Traditional Village 1.K & T never found the love for kimchi - they reluctantly agreed to take their picture by kimchi pots. 2. The time capsule at the village. The city of Seoul buried over 600 items in 1994, this (HUGE) time capsule will be dug up in 2394. 3. We lost T for a little while so I had to go find her. I found her scared and crying on a bench near the time capsule. (OK, just kidding, she wasn't crying, but that would have been funny.) I just like this picture of the two of us. Namsan Tower Some sort of show was going on, T & K were in *LOVE* with this guy! This is where you 'lock your love' at Namsan...kind of crazy, but cool. Aren't they cute? Waiting for the bus... Changgyeonggung Palace By this time the sisters were starting to wear down, but I kept dragging them along anyway. I just love these next two picture. Insa-dong was the last stop we made on the tour. Here are my sisters in front of my favorite little tea house. And here they are inside the tea house begging me to never make them move again. ;-)
Written by: Hubby Korean baseball snacks:dried squid, grilled squid, kim-bap & peanuts. We went with the kim-bap & beer. Girl was excited to see the olympic rings! Fans
The answer to my last blog is....Fukuoka, Japan!!!! The crazy thing is, they NEVER checked our tickets....on the way there or back. They never ask us for anything. On the way home I think I figured it out though. The lady kept walking up and down the aisle with some type of hand held computer. I think she was checking it against seats sold, and if you were in a seat that had been purchased, there was no need to bother you. The train would be fun for the kids as well. If you have 8 people traveling you can get a 'family seat' where you have 2 rows that face each other. When Hubby's brother visits us in July, I think we are going to take them to Busan by bullet train, but we will stay in Busan on the beach! So, here is a picture of what the first class car looks like...nothing too special, but nice. They have a little guy, like a flight attendant on the airplane that travels up and down the aisle with a cart where you can buy things, but be sure to flag him down because he practically runs through the car! (In past blogs I have refered to MIL as Grammy.) Here is Grammy on the train with her Starbucks we brought with us. This woman cannot live without Starbucks. Oh, I forgot to mention, the bullet train takes almost 3 hours from Seoul Station to Busan. And here she is in Busan, South Korea. We took a cab from the train station to the ferry. If you have a friend that speaks and writes Korean, it is helpful if you have them write in Korean where to take you. If you don't have a friend that speaks or writes, don't worry, most Korean's speak English, or you could show them your tickets to where you are going. I use Marco Polo Travel in Iteawon, and Marco wrote out everything for us in Korean. He TOTALLY hooked us up on this trip. His number is 02-757-2300, use him, he is awesome! The ferry was great, Marco booked this for us, but you can do it yourself by going to this website. Here is a picture of our ferry, it looks so tiny compared to the one on the right. Our boat is straight ahead in this picture, see the blue roof top, just to the right of it is our boat - it almost looks like one of the crates. When we first got on the boat, we thought we were in BIG trouble, as it was rocking like no other boat I have ever been on. We located the barf bags right away, and we were thankful when we did not have to use them. The boat was actually a very smooth ride once it got going. The ferry takes about 3 hours to get from Busan to Fukuoka, and the cost is 220,000 won. You can take a cheaper ferry, but it takes 15 HOURS to get there. Here is a picture of the boat, instead of a 'flight attendant' type; they use a TV to give you directions. I snapped this picture; make sure you read what it says. Also notice that this boat does not sit flat on the water is is on some sort of risers. A dream come true.....Grammy in Japan! (I kind of feel like Oprah!)
I did it again, I went back to the Dragon Hill Spa. This time I took my entire family with me!! Also, I snuck my camera in and took a couple of pictures!! :) First picture, the entrance I told you all about last time... And the fountain just before you enter (boy 2 is standing in front of it, so you can't really see it).... This time I felt way more comfortable going into the spa, I had no ‘barfy’ feeling at all. I must admit I was a little nervous for my family though; the unknown is always a little frightening, even if it is not for me, but someone close to me. Other things we did in the common area...Hubby and Boy 1 got massages in the massage chairs - 10 minutes = 3,000 won! They said they were great. I should have taken more pictures, but I was afraid of getting thrown out, I'm not sure cameras are allowed, but I did see other people sneaking pictures as well. I brought the DVD player for the kids, they watched a movie, & ate more snacks while I read a book. At this point they were a bit restless, so I took them to the play area, after a little while we headed to the outdoor heated pool. The kids and Hubby had a fantastic time in the pool. While they were in the pool, I snuck away to get a massage. This time I opted to get a massage in the common area, the more western type of massage. (No wet black table with a lady holding her panties.) I was guided to a big room that had about 8 massage tables, I saw people laying with all their clothes on (remember they give you PJ's), so I plopped down and was ready for my 1 hour sports massage. Now I must tell you, I LOVE a deep tissue massage. 9 out of 10 times I am not happy with the massage I get because the therapist rarely goes deep enough for me. After the first touch, I knew I was going to like this *little* lady. She tore me up and it felt FANTASTIC! I couldn't believe she actually hurt me a couple of times, but I did not complain, as I did not want her to lighten up. She walked on me, shoved her knees in me, twisted my body in ways my husband only dreams of. It was the best massage I have had in YEARS!! Now, I did not plan on staying all day, as I thought my family would be ready to go after a few hours. Girl had a birthday party to attend at 1:30, we arrived at the spa at 9AM, I thought surely everyone would be ready to go home before lunch. At 1PM, after lunch, none of the boys wanted to leave, and Girl had mixed feelings, but she really didn't want to miss her good friend’s birthday party, plus we had already RSVPed and I would not have let her miss it anyway. So, Girl, Boy 3 and myself headed out leaving the 3 other boys behind. My stomach was in knots the moment I decided to go. I grabbed my neighbor J & we headed out the EMart gate over to IPark mall where we were meeting my friend G & her family for my first Korean style spa experience. The Dragon Hill Spa is right next door to IPark, I have seen it several times not knowing what it was. The entrance is very nice, & calming, it is lined with skinny, bamboo style trees and a water fountain right before you go in the doors. I don't remember what the fountain was, as I was concentrating on not tossing my cookies. Remember I saw Nanta a few months ago? Well I was talking to one of my Korean friends and she mentioned that she took her kids to see Kid Nanta. I didn't even know there was such a thing! So my friend made reservations for us gave us directions and sent us on our way. I knew it was going to be interesting getting there because the way Koreans give directions is seriously foreign! It should have taken us only 15 minutes to arrive at our destination after exiting the subway, but it took us 40, when we were ready to throw in the towel and catch a cab, the cab driver looked at me, shook his head and pointed at the building across the street and behind us. This next picture is of things you cannot do in the theatre....can you figure it out? Me and the kids after the show.... After the show we headed out for a little chow. Boy 1 eyed a nice little Korean restaurant while we were walking. Boy 1 is always happy as long as we are eating. Heading back to the subway. I love this picture! |
AuthorProud Army wife and mother to 4 wonderful children. I love to cook, travel, work out and scrapbook life’s adventures when I find the time. We just got orders & are heading back to the states in March 2010. I'm bummed that our time has been cut short, but proud of Hubby for the reason why. Archives
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