Category Archives: Attractions

Day 6 R&S Invade South Korea

Farmers markets around the world vary so much, they each have their own personality and aesthetics. Rebecca said that whenever she travels to a new country she really makes an effort to check out the local offerings. See what the locals sell, buy, make, how they live. You really get a better understanding of the culture that way, I couldn’t agree more with her.

Its true, I am a sucker for farmers markets. I have fond memories of my Grandparents taking me to market-houses in central Pennsylvania when I was a little girl. The fondness has Since continued to grow and today I love just taking a stroll through tents of vendors selling fresh produce.

Okay, so I know by now you must have guessed…we visited the marketplace near my house. The market is held every five days. The streets are lined with trucks, tents, tables, and loud speakers all trying to win your attention and bate you in.

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We strolled along the streets ogling the produce, meats, beans, and well…the unknowns. Uh-huh…unknowns….

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We decided before we picked up anything from the market we would go for lunch first. However, even before heading to lunch we made sure to drop off postcards at the Korean post office.

We stopped by the steamed dumpling stand for mandu. We picked up two bulgogi and one kimchi filled mandu. Rebecca picked up a red bean filled doughnut too. We sat in the shade and enjoyed our treat. AFTER munching them down we decided to get a seafood pancake.

The Seafood pancake reminds me of potato cakes from Pennsylvania. Rebecca enjoyed this tasty treat too. Whew! Two for two today! Ha Ha! The great thing about Rebecca is she is so eager to immerse herself and try all the cultural things, like myself.

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After lunch we strolled more, stopped in a few stores, and looked at fun stationary. I loved sharing this with Rebecca too! I knew it was just her style and so inexpensive too.

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After our shopping excursion we went back to the marketplace where we picked up some delightful looking cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and a watermelon. Everything just looked so yummy! It was hard to resist not picking up more, if only we had more hands…

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2012_06_20 Rebecca's Day SixJun 19, 2012Photos: 14

Day 5 R&S Invade South Korea

Today we woke up, grabbed a bite for breakfast, Rebecca Skyped a bit, and we were out the door.

We had a Korean cooking class scheduled near Insadong at O’ngo. What was crazy about this place is that, before I moved to Korea I found this company and had plans to take it while living here. I never got around to it and the brochure still hangs on my refrigerator to this very day.

Rebecca was coming up with her itinerary before her visit and found it while notating things to do and places to see.

Rebecca, the worldly traveler she is, took a cooking class in Thailand while on a trip and loved it. So once she found this class she immediately emailed the company for more info, in the meantime asked me what I thought. This is a true story! How in sync are we?! There was no thinking about my response. Yes! Yes, what an outstanding plan!

O’ngo offers many different classes and tours. We decided on a bulgogi and cucumber kimchi course.

We took line one to Anguk station and wondered a bit more around Insadong. In search of cool postcards and food magnets. Ha Ha! Don’t ask…it’s a crazy touristy Korean thing.

We dawdled a bit, grabbed some postcards and realized quickly we were getting much closer in time to our class reservations. Sorry O’ngo! We were 7 minutes late…eek!

We found the O’ngo building location and rushed up to the third floor.

o'ngo

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The ladies that greeted us were absolutely fabulous! They immediately offered us tea, coffee, or water. They didn’t mind a bit that we were running behind on time.

We were taken into an connecting room that had a culinary setup. One station was set up for our instructor, the other for Rebecca and myself. We were the only two in the class. Talk about one on one attention! The private atmosphere was awesome! This gave us ample opportunity to take our time and ask any pressing questions that we had.

Welcome to class!

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Our station

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We started off with watching our instructor prepare cucumber kimchi. I’ve got to tell you folks, I’m so excited to recreate this!

Cucumber kimchi

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Yikes! Look out Rebecca... that's got some spice to it.

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Our delightful Instructor

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Start of cucumber kimchi

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What we need to make cucumber kimchi today

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Perfect!

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After watching the cucumber kimchi instructions we were to head back to our station and recreate what we just learned.

Lets begin!

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Rebecca was much more handy with the knife. Although I loved that she was able to show me a few new tricks of the trade. I’m thinking a knife course is in my near future.

After preparing the cucumbers we went back to the instructors station and watched her prepare the bulgogi marinade. The aroma was incredibly delicious!

We loved how the bulgogi marinade ingredients were so simple! Asian pear, garlic, onion, mushroom, soy, sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, pepper to taste. We were also delighted to learn that pineapple or kiwi in the place of the Asian pear too.

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YUM! Cooking up our meat.

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Perfect again! It's like she is a pro or something.. .ha ha!

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Final products. YUM! We got to taste too!

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What a wonderful experience! I’m so thankful we had the opportunity to learn this course together! (Thank you grandma Mem!!)

Rebecca and I agreed that we need to continue on with this tradition and when we meet up again in the future. It’s so much fun, you learn something new, and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor with others!

She is just so cute!

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Action shot!

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Besides the farmers tan we are looking fab in the kitchen!

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After cooking, we plated our meals and sat down to enjoy.

Check out our hard work.

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What a wonderful day!

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Bon appetit!

After finishing the meal we didn’t know we were in for a special treat. We had a market tour! What fun! Again, I learned more about the Korean foods and culture. The Guide was very sweet and very patient with us. I loved that Rebecca had the opportunity to chat with an English speaking Korean.

Market Tour

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Lotus Root

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White Rice to cook with

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White Rice to make rice cakes with

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Korea's red pepper

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The owner will grind the red pepper for you too.

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Many different rice cakes

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We parted ways with our guide and set out for Lotte Hotel. We started out earlier in the week trying to book a tour to the DMZ but disappointingly due to location and subway times were not able to. Rebecca continued to do some reading in her Seoul City guidebook and was able to find two more companies offering the tour as well. Score!

We arrived at the Lotte Hotel and were instantly blown away at the classiness of the hotel. We made our way to 6th floor. The elevator doors opened and there were travel agencies upon travel agencies. We located the one we needed and were also able to book a tour for Friday! Score! What a relief! I feel much better now, this was something I knew when she visited she should experience if she could.

Seoul Tower near Lotte Hotel

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After booking the tour we made our way back to the subway and went home.

No rush….

Korea....

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What an incredible day! I can’t stop smiling when I think of how much fun I had this week, today, and knowing I still have more time and a few days left to share with Rebecca.

2012_06_19 Rebecca day FiveJun 19, 2012Photos: 56

Day 4 of R&S Invade South Korea

Early rise this morning. I made an appointment at the hair salon in Seoul for Rebecca and myself. I was in desperate need of a trim and highlights…I know, complete shocker these sun kissed blonde highlights are chemically engineered.

I was really eager to introduce the sweet girl that cuts my hair. I knew Rebecca would really enjoy her. Rebecca got a pedicure and picked out the cutest color pink to boot.

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We took the subway down to the appointment. I knew it would be fun for Rebecca to experience public transportation in South Korea. Super convenient and super easy to use. Basically all your main areas are located along the subway line. Rebecca commented and said she couldn’t get over how clean the train and subway was compared to the DC metro. It really is rather clean and well kept after.

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After the hustle to get to our hair appointment, we we’re able to enjoy not being against the clock. Take our time. Stroll. Ha-ha! Well as much strolling that my long legs will allow, they are rather long.

We walked around the Insadong area. Rebecca picked up some ceramic duck chopstick holders for a gift. We also poked in and peaked around some of the little shops.

Rebecca got to try out egg bread too!

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I knew I want to let Rebecca try a Korean summer treat. Pat bing su. Rebecca tried egg bread and some other little vendor finds. Eventually after I drug her all over Insadong, we found a quaint second floor tea room serving pat bing su. Rebecca loved it! We both loved getting to sit down, chat, and catch our second wind. God bless her heart! I’m so thankful to have such an amazing bestfriend!

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After out Pat bing su we walked around a bit more and decided to continue on to our next destination.

The Next stop was the Gyeongbokgung Palace. We stopped off at a Dunkin Donuts to grab a drink and of course see the crazy koreanized donuts. Take for instance the glutinous rice stick. I know doesn’t sound very appetizing, folks you don’t know what you are missing out on.

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At the Palace we took an English guided tour. Again, it never gets old to me. I learn something new each time I revisit a place. We had a great time wondering all over the palace grounds.

We snapped some photos. It’s just incredible how the mountains and trees surround the back of the palace backdrop and the front is tall skyscrapers and the hustle of Seoul city life. It’s truly a place were you can see the old meeting the brand new.

After wondering through the Palace grounds we decided to head towards the subway and mosey home.

Once we arrive home we had to tackle one of the most important questions ever…WHATS FOR DINNER?! HAHA! We had endless amounts of our Korean meal from the night before…or we could go grab a bite elsewhere. We decided to go out. CHICKEN! Grilled Chicken!

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Once home we FINALLY remembered to bust out the surprise for Rebecca’s birthday. A nice cool treat from Korean Baskin Robbins!

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Goodnight Seoul! Until we meet again tomorrow!

2012_06_18 Rebeccas Day fourJun 18, 2012Photos: 74

Day 3 of R&S Invade South Korea

We got off to a late start today, but thats okay because we had no real formal plans in place. Typically I’m notoriously known as a planner, I drive Mr. B nuts needing to know or have some sort of back up plan in place. Since Rebecca’s been in town I’ve really surprised myself and we have been taking everything day by day.

Today Rebecca was interested in checking out some Buddhist temples near our home. We decided to hike up to the Soyosan Temple. The hike was really nice, we lucked out with another day of gorgeous weather in Korea.

We snapped some photos, people watched, and hiked our way up to the Temple.

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We all laughed and giggled at the air machines that the hikers were using to to spray off their hiking boots with. We also couldn’t get enough of all the little Korean children running around enjoying their summer weekend. What fun we had just people watching.

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After our short 2 mile hike we went to Lotte Mart and exposed Rebecca to a Korean grocery store. Rebecca described it as sensory overload, you know I’ve got to agree with her on that one. There are just people everywhere, loud speakers blasting with Korean, free samples of various foods, not to mention the endless amounts of foreign grocery goods to explore.

A shopping cart full later we purchased our dinner for the night. We decided to have a fun cook in Korean night.

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Mr. B cooked, Rebecca chopped, and I stirred, prepared the tofu and cleaned up around the kitchen. We sipped on Soju and some wine. Made Kimbap, pickled quail eggs, chopchae/japchae, Bulgogi, fried tofu, and grilled garlic chips. What a feast! We may have went a tad bit overboard…quickly realizing that we cooked entirely way to much food. Plenty of lunch leftovers to go around. Rebecca can now proudly say she knows how to cook chopchae/japchae and roll some kimbap. Memories I know I’ll never forget, I don’t think she will either.

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We cleaned up dinner and all watched Despicable Me. He-He-He! What a cute movie!!

Another great day to add to the books.

2012_06_17 Rebecca's Day ThreeJun 17, 2012Photos: 92

Day 2 of R&S Invade South Korea

We all woke up around 8ish-9ish this morning. We didn’t have a real plan in place. We wanted to keep the decisions of what to do up to Rebecca and how she was feeling. Mr. B whipped up some south western egg whites and I cut up a nice fresh Korean watermelon for breakfast.

Eventually we formulated a plan to see all the marketplaces in Seoul. We got everything together and were out the door around 11:30 with the GPS set to direct us to Seoul.

Please disregard the worst farmers tan ever that I’m sporting in my photos. Come on folks, I’m trusting you now!

We hit Namdaemun Market, Dongdaemun Market, Myeongdong, Cheonggyecheon Stream, and walked down the center of Seoul as the sun went down outside of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

We spent the afternoon lunching on street vendor food, shopping, exploring a bit, snapping photos, and soaking up the sunlight. The weather was gorgeous, we traipsed our little butts about 8 miles around the city.

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As the sun went down, Rebecca said the city started to really take on a different vibe. We agreed, we love Seoul during the day, but really love Seoul light up shining brightly at night too.

Even after being here for over a year, we still get the same feelings of excitement while wondering around Seoul. Needless to say we were all thoroughly enchanted.

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We ended our Seoul Backpack Bees tour in Itaewon over a delightful Thai dinner. We never ate at the restaurant, My Thai, it turned out to be rather delicious! We ordered pineapple fried rice, a spicy Thai noodle dish, and pad thai with shrimp.

It was getting late, we still had to drive home, we were all pretty exhausted. An hour and a half later we arrived home at midnight and all decided to retire to bed.

What an amazing day! Can this week not ever end, pretty please?!

2012_06_16-24 Rebecca's VisitJun 15, 2012Photos: 95

Give Me 50!

Laps that is.

Today, for the second time in a row this weekend, I woke up with Mr. B and went to the indoor pool. Yesterday I swam 30 laps, today I pushed myself a bit harder and did 50. Mr. B jokingly said that he needed to buy me a wet-suit for the pool because my lips were turning blue by the time I got out. When he said that, it instantly took me back to childhood memories, the days of swimming until my lips were blue, teeth chattering, ~~convulsing~~ shivering, but not daring to admit it’s time to get out and warm up.

Those were the days!

I stuck around a bit longer this morning to watch the Scuba students in action. Don’t tell Mr. B that I said this, but he’s such a natural! He loves scuba and it truly shines through when he’s helping to assist the students, or explain something more in detail. It’s just so darling watching him light up.

(Well, Hello Mr. B!)

Happy Sunday.

Perfect And Not So Perfect

What is your definition of perfect?Sometimes I follow blogs and think to myself, “wow, that bloggers life comes off as almost perfect”. Think about it…you get to choose what photos make it on your page, your topics, your comments, etc.

Life is made up of so many perfect and imperfect moments. Eventually we realize that each happens for a reason one way or another.

So here’s a run down of the perfect and not so perfect moments of our 5 year anniversary weekend happenings.

First, many people asked, what did you do for your anniversary weekend? How did you celebrate…well we went to the East coast…naturally.

Some of the new dive students said,”Mrs.B, you don’t dive”, “You are okay just hanging out for the weekend?”

The answer is, I enjoy it. Getting to watch Mr. B totally in his element, reading a good book I just downloaded, relaxing, and snapping pictures, chatting with friends, meeting new people. What a perfect gift! Hmmm well… minus the stomach bug that’s been plaguing me for the past 2 1/2 days. If you didn’t already assume, chalk that up to the not so perfect moments.

Saturday morning started off a bit rocky. We wanted to be on the road at 4:30am…however… Father time totally worked against us. Yes, that sounds about right, blaming him! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Aka.. Didn’t hit the snooze button, turned the alarm completely off. Oops….

Still made great timing, no traffic. Everything worked out rather perfectly.

Saturday afternoon the skies sort of matched my stomach. Gray. Luckily the dives were going well for the eager group of 30. Unfortunately on the opposite end of things I was still on the fence, stomach not feeling 100% like itself.

In between dives I made myself get up and take a walk. Convincing myself that the crisp beach air would do me some good. I ended up leaving my camera in the car with final thoughts of it will just be a short walk, no need to carry anything extra.

Aren’t those your famous last words? Ah! I didn’t think I’d walk around as much as I did. I really should have took the camera with me.

Again, convinced myself to go back to the car and then If I felt up to it again I’d go back and snap some photos. Eventually that is exactly what I did.

Yes! In my flips! Did you really think i’d have something different on?Sometimes all you need is a little mind over matter. (EEk! Little did I know I’d pay for that when retiring off to bed).

Anywho, I enjoyed my walk up…

up….

up…

and finally over and down…

a mini mountain that hugged the harbor area the divers were using to practice their skills. It was pretty neat to look down on the ocean below to see if I could spot them.

I stumbled upon an elderly Korean couple singing to one another and taking in the oceanic views. Also on the walk I found a temple, and laughingly watched a Korean family with two children that were being playfully teased by their father for being afraid of the metal grated pathway affixed to the mountainside. I guess you can add to my list throughly enjoyed my people watching too.

Sunday morning the sun poked right out behind the gray skies. It turned out to be an absolute perfect day for the divers. Plus while my stomach continued to remind me I wasn’t going anywhere I had ample opportunity to catch some rays.

Ahhh…What an incredibly peaceful place!

I’m convinced even though the beaches here on the East coast are bare compared to that of one stateside, a beach is a beach, the feelings of calmness, peace, and relaxation still loft in the air. Heaven on earth.

Hope you all had a truly perfect weekend!

Dive On Into Memorial Day

2012_05 Memorial Day Korea Scuba DiveMay 31, 2012Photos: 150

Memorial Day! The “unofficial” beginning to the summer months! This is the day the pool opens. Gone are the worries that wearing white pants are judged. This weekend kicks off friendly Pennsylvanian neighbor lawn wars too.

Memorial Day weekend has always been one of my favorite long weekends of the year to look forward to. Not only because it gives me time to reflect on our past and current heroes, but because I get to celebrate my very own hero, my husband!

Typically, in the past this weekend meant going to the beach, eating my weight in ice-cream and fresh fruit, sand in my shoes, fireworks, long bike rides, and the smell of bar-b-que in the air.

This weekend always represents the little taste of summer before it really actually begins.

Just because we’re in Korea doesn’t mean we let the Memorial Day weekend festivities go by without getting out and enjoying ourselves.

Saturday we packed up the car and were some of the only crazies on the road at 4AM, bound for the (East Coast) Sacheon beach.

Lots of diving, cooking out, toes in the sand, and laughs all around.

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Did you know Monday is also a significant Korean holiday? Yes, it’s Buddha’s birthday.

Traffic…

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Traffic…

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Oh yeah, LOOK more traffic…

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6 hours in the car…Need we say more? Ah well, totally worth it! Wonderful weekend with great friends!

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How was your holiday weekend? How do you typically spend it?

Palau Video 1 & Photo Album Dump

The much anticipated videos from Palau. Here is video 1 we should be posting 1 new video per day until all the footage is uploaded.

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2012_05 PalauMay 13, 2012Photos: 358

Jellyfish Lake

Our fearless SAMs Tours Dive Guide, Kostas, provided us with excellent history and facts about Jelly Fish Lake. Of course we can’t keep this experience all to ourselves!

“Jellyfish Lake is located on Eli Malk island in the Republic of Palau. Twelve thousand years ago jellyfish became trapped in a natural basin on the island when the ocean receded. The jellyfish had no predators amongst them for thousands of years, this caused them to evolve into a new species without the stinging ability. Not having the stinging ability means that these jelly creatures are virtually harmless to humans”

We Bees had been waiting with much anticipation for Jellyfish lake, not knowing exactly what to expect, or how we’d react to the jelly creature experience.

After docking the boat, we hiked up one steep and jagged limestone side of Eli Malk island and back down the other side until we reached the lake. Whew! Not for the faint of heart folks, however completely worth it! At last, at our feet lay the partially saltwater, partially freshwater lake. Word to the wise, flip-flops really don’t cut it on this climb.

We all geared up with our snorkels, masks, fins, and gently plunged into the lake. What an incredible feeling to be swimming among oodles of stingless jellyfish. They were really unfazed by our presence, they continuously pulsate up and down, business as usual. We took pictures, swam with them, gently touched them, but still they just pulsated up and down unaffected.

We learned that scuba Diving is not allowed at the lake. Unfortunately, lethal levels of Hydrogen Sulfide lay about 4 meters below the surface of the lake. Too bad! What an even better experience that would be, right?

A HUGE thank you to our friend Chris who shared his photos from that day at Jelly Fish Lake. More photos from our camera to come…eventually…we swear! HA HA! making the complete transition to…drum roll please… complete MAC!