Korea Week 3

And another busy week! We have moved on to Busan and VACATION. We're having a blast!

Tuesday the rain from the Typhoon abated and we went with Joann to a nearby outlet mall. They had a mechanical playground where everything spun, rocked or blew wind and objects around. William had a blast. They have some really cool playgrounds here, I must say.Wednesday Joann, William and I went to a mountain park where we saw a statue of a famous general, hiked up the mountainside and watched a huge musical fountain. It was perfect weather, but it was exhausting!

Thursday (the day Joann left) and Friday, William and I checked out the Gyeonggi Children's Museum as well as the Gyeonggi Provencial Museum (which was right next door). The Children's museum was so fun that we couldn't fit it all into one day and had to come back for more! It had a play farm area, a science area, a water area, a construction area, a parts of the body area, a fantasy area and a community/town area. The first day we were there I realized everyone was speaking English and that their were a bunch of white women ushering around a bunch of Asian children. Turns out they were part of a teaching English group that was out for a field trip. It was weird and good to hear English again! Friday evening we had Korean BBQ on the rooftop of our hotel with all of Francis's coworkers. It was nice to get to talk to some of them and hear about their experiences.

Saturday morning we left with all six bags and headed for the train station. The hotel staff were sad to see us go and all offered William hugs and "byebye"s. It was sweet. Well, we took a taxi to the train station only to find that the elevator was blocked from the main part of the station for some reason and we had to take the stairs. Fortunately some men took pity on us and helped us get our luggage up to the top. I think Francis and I would have died from exhaustion otherwise. Well, we hurried to the terminal and tried to figure out exactly where our train can would end up so that we could line up all our stuff. We were completely wrong...I dragged two suitcases and the stroller as far as I could, but my bags tipped over and I lost sight of Francis. Everyone was rushing onto the train and it was about to leave so I got onto the nearest car after explaining through a translator that my husband had our tickets. The porter did not want to let us on, but finally he did. I quickly realized the aisle was too narrow to get both the luggage and stroller through, so I left the luggage with the porter and struggled through 11 train cars (with the help of a kind English speaking Korean woman) until I finally caught sight of Francis, who looked as relieved as I. Francis went after the luggage (and showed the porter our tickets) and we finally settled in for our train ride. I cried quite a bit, but only after I knew everything was ok. Francis had apparently gone around a huge pillar to get on the right car and never saw me fall. He was as worried as I was. But we are all ok now. The train ride itself was amazing and smooth. We got to see so much countryside and go through mountain tunnels. William loved it!

When we arrived Saturday at the train station, we had to take two (yes two) taxis to our hotel. Then we headed up to Yongdusan Park and Busan Tower to see the city view. William got his first Subway ride and we ended up having a spectacular view of the sunset over the city. We had dinner at Lotte Department store and watched the World's largest indoor audiovisual fountain do a couple of shows. It was very impressive as was the mall itself. 

Sunday we took a bus tour around the city. We found more people speak English here, to say the least. We visited the Busan Museum of History, where William got to experience a traditional wedding ceremony for himself. It was very cute. The relics they have at the museum are impressive and the museum went all the way up to modern day. The most interesting thing to me though was that final sentence on the final placard, "Indeed the [Korean] war is not over, as evidenced by the DMZ zone and still separated families". We don't think about that very much here, but it is evident that they still do. We also visited Gwangalli  and Haeundae beaches, where William got to swim in the Sea of Japan. We would have all swam if we knew the water was so pleasant, but everyone said it would be too cold. Oh well! Shinsegae department store, the biggest mall in the world, was our next stop. I enjoyed Cartier, but Francis wouldn't let me get anything...not sure why! We passed over Gwangan Bridge which provided a spectacular view and concluded our journey at the UN Memorial cemetery for the Korean War. Our last stop was certainly the most special and memorable. They could not have made a more beautiful cemetery. We watched them lower the flag and I cried. I don't even have words for this time. I will leave it by saying I will never forget it. 

Monday we went shopping a bit, but gave up because we know we will shop in Seoul. We ended up walking to Children's Grand Park where we hiked a mountain and saw Beomeosa Temple. We hiked in order to see the view, but all we could ever see was trees! It was a fun day, but my legs are tired!!!

In Busan, the gifts for William continue and are still mostly food. One shopkeeper yesterday gave him an entire bag of rice cakes! A knew thing has occurred though, people now want their picture taken with William. It's so odd, but more than 20 people have posed with him over the last 48 hours. One man walking along the beach, scooped him up, posed for the camera, put him down and kept walking. To his credit, he had seen someone else pose with him a little while before, but he still didn't ask! It's so crazy! Every one calls out to him no matter how far away he is. There is a distinct "I've just seen William" face that comes over people of all ages. When I can't find William and Francis, I just follow the faces back to them (seriously!). There is also a sigh/gasp/cry that all women seem to make when they see him. I kind of delighted "ah!". William is going to miss all this attention when we get home. 

Well, I need to go. We board the train for Seoul in a couple of hours. Wish us luck!  We will need it.