American restaurants

When Joe and I were in Seoul last weekend I had to get some pictures of the Hard Rock Cafe, Quiznos sub and Cold Stone Creamery. These pictures could have almost have been taken in the States. The Hard Rock Cafe is actually underground. The gift shop is the only thing above.

The Show must go on!

On Labor Day here on Post there was a circus. The performers were from the Dong Choon Art Circus. It poured rain all day long so most of the other activities were cancelled. The circus was set up inside a tent, which didn't hold up very well to the amount of rain we had. These performers went ahead with their acrobatics and stunts despite the tent falling down around them. In the second picture I am not sure you can tell, but the guy on the bottom is on a up on table and he is standing on a board balanced on a round tube so he is keeping his balance the whole time side to side. Then this second guy climbs up onto the platform on the first guys head. He also does the same balance board trick, but adds tossing and catching bowls on his head to the act. One raindrop coming through the roof could have been dangerous if it landed just right. In this picture and the one of the tightrope walker you can see the tent ripping because of the rain behind them. This was a fun little circus. The boys really seemed to enjoy most of the performers. We saw, Contortionists, trapeze artists, a tight rope walker, performing dogs, hula hoopers, a chair stacker, an acrobatic lady swinging from a rope, a break dance group, performing dogs and the Motorcycles in a cage. The boys were totally fascinated by the dogs, and thrilled by the motorcycles. I thought since we were so close to the motorcycle cage it might be too loud for them, but they were entranced. Apparently the break dancers are a world champion dance team named b-boy. Who knew that Korea had world champion break dancers. As part of the other labor day activities we had our family picture taken with a piece of moon rock and a guy dressed like an astronaut. Stew got to eat one of his favorite meals "Monkey on a stick". It is actually marinated chicken on a bamboo skewer, but Joe told him once that it was Monkey and the name stuck. Stew thinks it is great stuff. He is a goof. Despite the rain we made the best of things. We even went shopping in the "ville" the little shopping area outside of post and got some incredible deals because business was so slow due to the rain. After all of that walking in the rain we were soaked by the time we made it back home. We then dried off and took one of Joe's guys out to dinner because it was his last night in Korea.

The boys in Seoul

Here are a few pictures of the boys from yesterday on post in Seoul. We had a fun day walking around and shopping. It was a beautiful day.

The 3rd Tunnel

OK, OK, I know enough about the dangers of being on the border of North and South Korea. I had to share this picture from along the side of the road leaving the JSA. "MINE" - It is warning people to not go off the road because there are live mine fields on either side of the road. It is a two lane windy road that reminds me of driving up into the mountains. Don't wreck your car! You never know where you might end up. Here I am chilling out beside a statue of a Korean guard. Koreans like their cartoons so all of their mascots are cartoons. This is a picture of the diagram of the tunnel dug by the North Koreans for them to use in an invasion. The yellow sign tells all about it. I found it most interesting that the North Koreans rubbed coal on the walls and told the South that it was an old coal mine when you could look at the walls an tell that they were primarily granite. Also there is not coal in this area. I guess they need to find a better lie next time they try to invade. Unfortunately they won't allow you to take pictures in the tunnel and I had to lock my camera up before entering the tunnel. It was amazing how short the tunnel was for us to walk through. They say it is 2 meters tall by 2 meters wide, but I had to duck to walk through. Well, I hope you have enjoyed my DMZ tour experience as much as I did. It was fun to get to see a piece of history that so very few Americans get to experience. I must admit, it did make me a little nervous when they were yelling at us to remain seated in place on the bus and to not make eye contact or hand gestures with the North Koreans because they could perceive anything as a threat and use it to justify an attack. Overall though, I did feel very safe and secure. Thanks for bearing with me as I have been quite wordy, but I had to share.

I spy the DMZ

OK, are you tired of hearing about this trip yet? Good, I wanted to tell you more. I figured I better prove to you that I was really there. Here is a picture of me with Propaganda village in North Korea in the background. Then a picture of the Military Police Escort for our bus during our tour. Then the pictures get more interesting. You may have to click on this next picture to see it better. It is of Propaganda village, North Korea on the Left and Freedom Village, South Korea on the right. That line going horizontally across the picture that looks like a tree line is the border between the two countries. If you look closely you can see the two flags on their very tall flag poles. As you can see it is a beautiful landscape, too bad these countries can't learn to get along. Finally you have my most dangerous picture yet. It was taken from Dora Observatory. We were only allowed to take pictures when we were behind a certain area with a very large wall surrounding us. If we were caught taking pictures they would at a minimum make you delete the pictures. We had to stand on tip toes to even get very bad pictures of this area. The South Koreans are worried about people taking pictures of their border and troops and sharing them with the North Koreans. I had to be VERY sneaky to get this picture. The road running horizontal is the only road into North Korea from the south. A little farther to the left and you would have been able to see the several check points that vehicles have to go through. The brown fence line running almost diagonally is the border. North Korea is on the right and South Korea is on the left this time. This double walled barb wire fence separates the two countries and is 15-20 feet I would guess. The fence is filled with rocks so as the South Koreans do their checks if there are any rocks out of the fence laying on the ground they know that the fence has been tampered with by North Korea. I found this whole trip very interesting.

More about the DMZ

Here are some more pictures from our DMZ trip. The first is a "Rock Drop" These are all over the major road ways going towards Seoul from the North. They are designed that if the North were to even invade the South Koreans would detonate this and it would cover the road with rocks and block the road. They are really large as you can see from the size of the road in comparison. I also couldn't resist taking a picture of this South Korean soldiers pant legs. There is a hollow hoop in each leg with bearings inside so that when the soldiers walk it makes noise. Just think about Hula-Hooping when you were little with the marble inside. The idea is to make it sound like there are more troops than really are there. Of course I can't leave out the Visitors declaration that they made us sign to go there. It was a very interesting read about not making hand gestures or facial expressions at the North Korean Soldiers because they may consider it a threat. This is my Guest badge that I had to wear to go on the tour. I think it was just to make us feel important.

The DMZ

Today Tiffany and I went to the DMZ. The DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone between between North and South Korea which runs along the 38th parallel. This sign above is one of the first signs we saw from our bus as we were getting close, it is warning about land mines! The next photo shows propaganda village in North Korea. This village was built by the North to show how great it is there. Too bad no one lives here and the only people seen there are maintenance workers. The flag pole flying the North Korean flag is the tallest flag pole in the world at 160 meters high. They had to make their flag higher than the South Korean Flag which is flown at 100 meters high. Nest we have pictures of the Signs posted along the Demarcation line which is the center of the DMZ. The signs are all rusted, but you can still read that it says Military Demarcation Line. And Finally we have the bridge of no return. This bridge spans between North ans South Korea. This is the bridge that prisoners of war from both sides were brought to and lined up on either side of the bridge at the end of the war. They were allowed to cross the bridge once to the side of the bridge they wanted to live on forever, they could not cross back. They didn't tell us how many North Koreans chose to stay on the Southern side. I have more pictures to share so I will keep this short.

Lotus Flowers

Some photos for your viewing pleasure. I know, there are not people in these pictures (Dad). They are just for the joy of nature. I couldn't resist the water drops resting on the leaves of the lotus plants. It was really a calming scene. I also thought the flower bud and the blossom were beautiful. So, relax, take a deep breath and enjoy nature.

Children's Grand park II

OK, after going to Children's Grand Park last Saturday I couldn't resist posting more pictures. I took over 400 pictures that day! This little Momma monkey above loved the boys. She just looked so sad sitting there watching everyone. Skoebie fell and she jumped down off of her perch to come check on him. She even tried to help him up through the glass. She was playing with Stew by putting her hand up against his through the glass. It was really sweet. I also had a lot of fun watching Skoebie drink from this water fountain. He was completely soaked. Good thing it was a hot afternoon. I just like this picture I took of an old Korean building in the center of the park, So I decided to share. Last but not lest we have Joe and Stew feeding the Elephants. These guys love Carrots! Elephants are also very strong, just ask Joe. After he was finished feeding this guy he reached his hand out to pet the elephants trunk and it grabbed his hand and pulled him. I think he thought Joe had more food. Joe was shocked that the elephant got a hold of him so quickly. It scared Skoebie because Joe was holding him at the time. Joe was fine, he didn't get hurt or go anywhere, it just gave him a good tug.

Children's Grand Park

Here we are at Children's Grand Park in Seoul on Saturday. It is a HUGE park with shows, a zoo, play areas for kids, and an amusement park. Admission is free to the park, you just have to pay for the rides and shows. We paid to see the show Anistory, ride a camel, feed deer and feed elephants. Over all we spent less than $25 Dollars for a full days entertainment at a zoo/park for a family of four. Skoebie loved feeding the animals. He just couldn't get enough of having the deer licking food off of his hand. He kept laughing and asking for more. Stew's favorite part of the day was riding a camel. The entire time he kept saying, "Mom, I'm riding a camel! Mom, I'm riding a camel!" The boys had a lot of fun. They also enjoyed playing in the man made fountains and streams designed for kids. I thought we would never get them out of the water. Joe found a way, he bought Stew a hot dog on a stick wrapped in bread. MMM Food... At the end of the day we found a barefoot park. A barefoot park is a walking path with different textures on the ground designed to stimulate the nerves in your feet. They have things like small stones, round rocks, planks of wood, metal balls, etc. all cemented into the ground for your walking pleasure. Truthfully, pleasure for a 90 pound Korean, is not so nice for a big American when it comes to the tiny stones. Over all it was a great day.

Korean Snow White

We went to Children's Grand Park in Seoul on Saturday. While we were there we watched a show called "Anistory". It it a Korean version of Snow White. As you can see from the pictures of the boys above, it looks like they have the right characters. When we get inside to watch the show... things aren't quite like Disney. When we first meet Snow White she is dressed in rags doing cleaning chores and talking to birds like another princess we know... Cinderella perhaps? Then we meet the dwarfs... little monkeys dressed in costume. The story then begins to look more familiar as the evil witch forms a plan to feed Snow White a poisonous apple. But wait, now we have two princes competing for our lovely princess. How do they compete for the love of a sleeping princess you ask? Well, with sports of course! They each have a seal play basketball to see who wins. The winner gets to wake up Snow White with a beautiful flower. Not a kiss folks! Finally, Snow White, her Prince, and their two seals play beautiful music. Who would have thought that fairy tales would vary so much from country to country? I wonder how other countries stories differ from the ones we were told as children.