What a day! We decided to rent a car and drive to Chuncheon (Yoon Teacher's (YT) home town) to look at the fall colors and just see the sights. Road trip!
The adventure started Friday night. YT had been talking to the rental company on the phone. 'No problem to rent a car....come in Friday night. We'll set you up.' I walk in and they see that I'm American and they change their minds. They used some excuse that the contract was all in Korean and that they didn't speak English. So we had to go to Hertz Saturday morning. 
Which car is mine? Every car in Korea is either silver, black or white. At least I got to drive on the right side of the road.
The adventure started Friday night. YT had been talking to the rental company on the phone. 'No problem to rent a car....come in Friday night. We'll set you up.' I walk in and they see that I'm American and they change their minds. They used some excuse that the contract was all in Korean and that they didn't speak English. So we had to go to Hertz Saturday morning. Which car is mine? Every car in Korea is either silver, black or white. At least I got to drive on the right side of the road.It is approximately a two and a half hour drive to Chuncheon which is northeast of Seoul from Gimpo. It was a nice drive and the leaves were just starting to change color. Once there we hooked up with YT's sister and niece.
We went to lunch for one of Chuncheon's two famous dishes...makguksu. It is a buckwheat noodle dish and we also had boiled pork and bean curd soup. Our second stop took us to a sculpture art display at the MBC building. Not exactly my cup of tea but it was a beautiful afternoon to walk around outdoors, so, no complaints.
Chuncheon is intertwined with lakes and rivers and so we decided to take a duck paddle boat out for a spin. A para glider kept dive bombing us and other boats on the lake.
After the boat ride, we went to the Ethiopian War Memorial for those who had fought in the Korean War. I had no idea the Ethiopian commitment in the war efforts was so great. It was a little surreal to be looking at Ethiopian cultural artifacts and learning Ethiopian history in Korea.
At the war memorial we met up with more of YT's family and then went to the Gangwon Province Arboretum. We didn't have a lot of time but we did see the mineral and forestry exhibit, one of the greenhouses, and then watched the sunset over the city.
We met up with even more of YT's family and went to a dak-galbi dinner. Chuncheon is known for its chicken farms and is the hometown of this famous spicy chicken dish. We even got to wear these stylish bibs.
Finally, we headed home. The roads were relatively free of traffic until we got to Seoul. Today was the Seoul International Fireworks Festival. It ended at 9pm just when we were trying to get through. It took an hour and a half to go the 20 kilometers through Seoul. Yuck!
We went to lunch for one of Chuncheon's two famous dishes...makguksu. It is a buckwheat noodle dish and we also had boiled pork and bean curd soup. Our second stop took us to a sculpture art display at the MBC building. Not exactly my cup of tea but it was a beautiful afternoon to walk around outdoors, so, no complaints.Chuncheon is intertwined with lakes and rivers and so we decided to take a duck paddle boat out for a spin. A para glider kept dive bombing us and other boats on the lake.After the boat ride, we went to the Ethiopian War Memorial for those who had fought in the Korean War. I had no idea the Ethiopian commitment in the war efforts was so great. It was a little surreal to be looking at Ethiopian cultural artifacts and learning Ethiopian history in Korea.At the war memorial we met up with more of YT's family and then went to the Gangwon Province Arboretum. We didn't have a lot of time but we did see the mineral and forestry exhibit, one of the greenhouses, and then watched the sunset over the city.We met up with even more of YT's family and went to a dak-galbi dinner. Chuncheon is known for its chicken farms and is the hometown of this famous spicy chicken dish. We even got to wear these stylish bibs.Finally, we headed home. The roads were relatively free of traffic until we got to Seoul. Today was the Seoul International Fireworks Festival. It ended at 9pm just when we were trying to get through. It took an hour and a half to go the 20 kilometers through Seoul. Yuck!Are you enjoying fall?
1 comment:
Like your bib!!!!!
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