Travels in Korea!

Hi, everyone. If you've noticed that I've been around a little bit less recently, it's actually because I'm out of town... I'm actually in Korea!

My girlfriend was adopted from Korea when she was 6 months old and grew up in the US, with American parents, but she likes to visit Korea periodically. This is her third trip, and she offered to bring me along. I don't travel much, but when she invited me, I decided it was too good of a chance to pass up.

Hence, I've been in Korea since the 13th, and I'm having a great time exploring and learning about the culture. Some people asked me to share some photos, so here they are!

Here is the changing of the guard, at Gyeongbokgung palace, where the kings of Korea lived for 700 years:

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The guards on watch at the main gate:

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And here is a view from inside the palace:

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The following is the Joint Security Area, the heart of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), between North and South Korea. The two nations are still technically at war, and the blue buildings are where meetings between the North, the South, and the US occur, under UN supervision. The South Korean soldiers are standing half behind the blue buildings to present a smaller target to the North Koreans should shooting begin and also so that they can gesture discretely to other soldiers.

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You are allowed to take photos here. I suspect that the tours are a form of psychological operation against the North. We must look so well fed to the North Koreans, who have so little food, that it must sap morale to some degree. Sad...

And to leave on a cheerier note, I thought I'd leave you with some greetings from Korea, Gangnam style:

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You may recognize the pose from about 1:55 into this little video (now at 1.7 Billion views). What can I say? I have a slightly eccentric sense of humor...

 

Oh, my goodness, I've had such fun exploring the food. It you look around, it can be both cheap and delicious. The food culture here is really terrific. We've had lots of great Korean barbecue, and some wondt is erful soups and pastas as well.

The following was one of my favorites. It is incredibly hot here right now, so the following cold soup was very welcome. It was buckwheat noodles in a sweet, vinegary broth filled with ice crystals. It's called Mul Naengmyeon:

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Slightly less appetizing, but still cool, was Jagalchi fish market. I love the way he grabs the escaped fish and just plops it back in:​

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I almost got some terrific video of some cute kids with their Korean mom watching some sort of muscle-like mollusk that almost escaped, falling on the floor.​

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We had noodles with black bean sauce (delicious!) for $3 yesterday for lunch on the way up to a Buddhist temple. The shop was named "Live food." We didn't dare ask.​

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Speaking of live food, look what I found in my seafood chowder last night!​

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Note the eye and the jaw. The meat from the neck was actually quite good, but we wondered how the locals managed all of the copious bones. ​