Seoul, South Korea

Good morning to you fine people......

          Finally, I get to write another Post.  It's been a couple of weeks since we've been in Seoul, but I couldn't get this blog done for multiple reasons.  Just be happy that it is finally happening!!!! ;-) (REMEMBER: as always, for a larger view, click on the pictures ;-)) 

We stayed  in Gangnam, and learned all about the Gangnam style.  Gangnam means "South of the River" and Gangnam can be understood as a Beverly Hills.  The people there are young and pretty and it seems that nobody falls out of fashion style there (except Julia and I... dumb foreigners).  They all have their Samsung phones at hand while strutting those designer cloths around.  I have to say, "Beauty" has become a different image for me in regards to faces.  There is something about young Asian faces that does describe Beauty... at least it does so for me now.  

 What I loved the most about South Korea were the people...  They are very friendly, and especially once they heard you say a couple of words in their language... i could only say thank you and say a formal greeting, but it made people smile and that's what counts. 



The food... wow.. the food.  That should be an entire Blog post series on its own, but I won't do it.  I have eaten sooooo much authentic Korean dishes now, but I have no clue what they were...  I learned to stay away from the spicy food though.  Koreans eat spicy dishes all day long.. makes me wonder about their esophagus and stomach lining.  I asked Kevin when Koreans introduce that spicy food to their children and he replied: "when they are about 5 years old".    Crazy!!!!   The eating never stops though.  Kevin explained that social meals are most important to Koreans and it is insulting to not honor that.  So, here is to more food:  

    The following pictures depict our trip to Gangon Province, a region in the mountains outside of Seoul.  It was rather beautiful and one could not have had any more "authenticity" then here.  It's a good thing that Julia can communicate in Korean other than just thank you and hello ;-)   

Beatuiful

Always working

modern communication device ;-)

Super happy Julia

Only if you really really have to go

FANTASTIC

It was a wonderful experience to be in South Korea.  If I had to place a vote in regard to a location of the world's friendliest people, I would vote for Korea, even though I haven't seen all of the rest of the world.. right now, this is my top pick!!!!  The people always smile, when you show them that you are willing to speak their language and eat their food, they are super super friendly and the food is actually kinda awesome once you get over yourself of dissecting everything that's in your bowl ;-) Just eat it!!!! (yeah, that's how I got to eat a sea squirt... go ahead, google it ;-)  )

Next stop... Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia....