Day 10: Saying goodbye and a long flight home.

We woke up at 11 am for some sandwiches. Baek Du and Ki Young came back to take a good 2 hour nap (they had been in a sauna passed out for the past 4 hours). Jae Wu was nowhere to be found because he left us last night.

We packed our bags and said our goodbyes to the family and Poshingtang, the family dog (It's our nickname for her). We left at 2:30 pm which meant there wasn't enough time to pick up YunHee. YunHee and EunYoung called and we said our goodbyes on the phone as we headed to Incheon station.

We arrived at Incheon at 3:45 pm and waited in line to check our bags.



Ki Young and Baek Du stayed with us until the security checkpoint. We said our goodbyes and headed for our terminal.



Joseph tried to order the Wii at 5 pm (Midnight in the US) but it didn't work out. We finally got on the plane and passed out after several hours.. thus ending our 10th and final day in Korea.

Day 9: Mountain climbing and partying at night (the Big Bang)

We woke up at 8 am to the sound of women coming into our room to change. Breakfast was served and afterwards we were given a tour of the factory. Joseph's relatives (Ki youngs dad, mom and YunHee's dad took us to a mountain Seolraksan national park.

We got to the mountain at 11 and took the cable car up to the top of one of the peaks. From there we took a path and climbed our way up to the top of another peak.



Ki Young's dad and mom did not come with us to the peak. We then went back down the cable car and checked out some of the temples nearby as well as a giant buddha statue.

We left the national park at about 2 pm.. and drove to another mountain site where there was supposed to be snow (there really wasn't any). We took off and went back to the factory to pick up YunHee (who had been studying and taking tests online). We got back at about 3 pm and we ate some lunch. From there we left and said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back to Seoul.

The ride back to Seoul was filled with traffic.. mainly the last leg of the drive. Everyone was getting antsy because of the lack of time left in Seoul. We finally got back at about 9 pm.. we picked up some Kalbi burgers from Lotteria and dropped YunHee off first. We all got ready as soon as possible to head out for partying.

We met YunHee and her friend, EunYoung, at Ahpugeong (sp?) we went to a nearby drinking place and had pineapple soju and regular soju.



From there we tried to figure out what to do afterwards. With some confusion and negotiating we decided to go booking again at Interface (apparently a popular booking club) with Ki Young and his friends. We gotta room and sang and danced until the placed closed at 6 am.





This particular experience was much better than the one last weekend as we ran into girls that actually spoke english. We also had YunHee and EunYoung to translate or to talk to when there wasn't anyone around.

We got back to Ki Youngs place at about 7 am (Ki Young's dad was playing starcraft on his computer at the time.. Insane!) We passed out right away. Our last night in Korea had finally come and passed.

Day 8: Kidnapped and taken to a water factory near N. Korea

We woke up at about 10 am for breakfast. We were told that we would be taken to a place up in the mountains to see snow. Alex needed to get his Travelers checks changed and YunHee needed to be picked up. We didn't set out on the trip until 2 pm.

We ate lunch at a small restaurant on the way (a pretty famous Ja Ja Myun place). We ate quickly and set off again.



It wasn't until we were on our way that we found out that we would probably have to spend the night up in the mountains (DOH!). Joseph was particularly unhappy about this because it was Friday and he wanted to go crazy the last 2 nights in Korea (edit by joe: I was more upset by the fact that we weren't able to pack anything for the trip since we didn't know until it was too late).

We arrived at the destination at about 6 pm. We were gonna stay at a water bottle factory up in the mountains. We had daeji (pork) bbq (like the one in Pohang in day 2). We met more of Joseph's extended family.



We were starting to get restless at about 10 pm and started to sing Karaoke at the company.







We couldn't do it all night so we decided we would look for a Norebang in the small town just outside. YunHee and her mother dropped us off at a nice place at about 11 pm.

We decided as soon as we got in that we would rather look around for another place. We walked around for about 20 minutes.. but didn't find anything that we liked and it was freezing cold. We ran into a PC bang and used the internet. Joseph and Alex played some Starcraft.

We called to be picked up at about 1:30 am. We got back to the factory around 2 am.. where we drank the rest of our alcohol and then passed out in one of the rooms designated for workers.

Day 7: Min Sok Chon, extended family and Joseph's friends

We woke up at about 10 am to get ready for a long day of sightseeing and meeting more of Joseph's family. We had breakfast (egg salad sandwiches) and left about 11 am. Apparently the heater in the van needed to be fixed so we stopped at a repair shop. We finally left for Min Sok Chon at 12 pm.

We got to a tourist site at about 1 pm and walked around seeing what old Korea was like. Joseph was paddled by his uncle, we crossed different types of bridges and had kimchee pancakes.









We saw a show and left about 3:30 pm for Joseph's second aunt's home.



We got to the house about an hour later and had dinner with their family. We had homemade maeshichu (plum wine) and watched some soccer.



We stayed there for about an hour and got ready to go because Joseph had set up a meeting with some friends he met online.

We got to ShinChon station at 7 pm and watched an MTV show/ concert while we waited for the girls to arrive.



There was some confusion and we ended up waiting longer than expected and went to a nearby bar. We hung out with them until Ki Young came by to take us to hang out with his friends. We drove the girls home and said our goodbyes.



Ki Young took us to a small diner and we ate some chicken feet, spicy pancakes, and had Makkolli, which is unstrained rice wine.



We drank it slow, because we were warned that it can sneak up on you and give you an insane hangover in the morning. We left the diner at 3 am to go home and get some sleep.

Day 6: Touring Seoul

We woke up at 12 and ate "breakfast" (Bulgogi, rice, soup and side dishes). Joseph's aunt had been up all night hanging out with friends. Ki Young and his sister Min Hee were out all night working... (Noone gets any sleep here!) Min Hee was forced into staying up and taking us around Seoul for some sightseeing because we hadn't had the chance to hang out with her yet. We left for our tour of Seoul at 1:45 pm.

We arrived at a small bank and had to get some cash for Alex. He forgot his passport and the workers messed up on his birthdate so it took a while to get the money situation straightened out. We finally left at 2:20 pm. We arrived at Seoul Tower Cable cars soon after. The cable car ride was only 3 minutes. It was really windy and cold up on Namsan but we took tons of pictures outside anyway. We went up the tower and looked around as well.











We left there around 4 pm. We ended up driving around for a good hour... stuck in traffic and getting lost. We were supposed to go to a palace where Joseph's parents got married.. but they closed at 5.. which is the time we got there (doh!).





We decided to leave and go to COEX aquarium. We arrived at about 6:15 pm and walked around for 45 minutes.







We then walked around the mall for another hour before we met up with Min Hee and YunHee. They took us out to dinner at a nice restaurant that was pretty far away (and off an old beaten path). You could watch the train as it passed by. It had an indoor and outdoor area where you could eat some food. Pretty romantic place if you ask me... lots of couples were there.

We left the restaurant and dropped YunHee off on the way back to Ki Young and Min Hee's house. We then got ready to go out again. We were taken to Hong Dei this time for some clubbing. We drank at an Izakaya, at 1 am, before clubbing at Q VO across the street. We stayed at the club for a couple hours and left at 5 am.

Day 5: Visiting the countryside, doing tourist-y things

We woke up at 7 am and checked out at 8 am. We went to Joseph's uncle's apt. to eat some breakfast. We left Pohang at about 10 am and headed to the country side.

We got to Bulguksa Temple around 11 am and took some pictures. We also tried bundungi (fried silk worms).









From there we went up the mountain to Seokgulam Grotto to see the temple there.







We then went down to get lunch at McDonalds (we requested burgers because of the varied foods we had in the past few days.) The prices and food is pretty similar to that in the states. The Big'n'Tasty is bigger in Korea and you can order a small cup of corn as a side here as well.
We arrived at a nearby Gyeongju museum at about 2 pm.







We checked out the museum until 4 pm and then left back for Seoul.

We arrived in Seoul around 8:15 pm and went to a popular restaurant to have pork stew (gamjatang) and soju.



After drinking and eating we windowshopped for a little bit before heading back to Ki Young's place. Ki Young and his friends got ready for work (they work together as well), while Joseph, Alex and I got ready to go out to a bar in Itaewon.

We were dropped off near Sky bar/lounge... but that place was dead.. so we went to Club XO.. but that place was dead as well. It was already 2 am and Alex and I were tired. We decided to head back to Ki Young's, so we got a taxi and left. We fell asleep around 3 am.

Day 4: Trying to Recover...

Joseph and I woke up at 10.. and went to check out the beach across the street for a second. I went back in to take a nap but Joseph had took a taxi to get to a bank. (He had a lot less money than he had expected to have in the morning.) Joseph came back after an hour or so. Alex and I then woke up later at 1 pm. We left for the liquor store and bought some sandwiches (again) and juice. We checked out at 3 pm and hung out in front of the motel. Everyone was either sick or recovering from the night before.

We met Jin Heok's (who had left for the military earlier) father and mother at a nearby sushi restaurant. We and ate tons of sashimi and fried fish. Joseph's uncle brought Ballentine whiskey for all of us to drink (ugh)... raw fish and whiskey is not a good mix.. Joseph drank about 5 shots of whiskey (even pouring one for himself! Alex and I on the other hand refused a drink from Joseph's uncle... rude americans!).

After dinner (Joseph was drunk) we left to a park near the ocean



where there are 2 giant hand statues in the shallow waters of the ocean and in the park (the hands of god). We took some pictures and left.





We took some pictures on the way back at POSCO and the bridge adjacent to the factory.



Our plan was to go to sleep early because we had to wake up and be ready to go at 8 am the next day. We got back to the motel at 9 pm. Alex and I went to sleep but Joseph went back out to see more of his mother's hometown.

Day 3: Pohang here we come!

We woke up around 12.. but needed an hour to recover in the room and pack our bags. We left for food (sandwiches again) at the liquor store then went to PC bang. We met up with Ki Young, Baek Du and Jae Wu at 3 pm in front of the Notinghill Motel.

We arrived at Ki Young's House at 3:30 and dropped off most of our luggage at his place. We watched starcraft and played with his dog until 5 pm. We drove to a Station about 15 min away where we met up with Joseph's aunt and cousin (Jin Heok). We would be taking them with us to Pohang (4 hour drive).

We got to Pohang about 9 pm where we met Jin Heok's Dad (Joseph's uncle) at a Taeji BBQ restaurant. We ate tons of food and drank lots of soju.





We finished our meal and left to find a motel for us to stay at. We got two rooms at the Motel city motel next to the beach. We then headed out to a Norebang (karaoke bar) at 11 pm. Jae (the driver) almost hit a few old ladies on the way there! We Sang/drank/and hung out with some ladies until 3 am..





Then we went back to the motel and ate a nearby diner. Alex and I tried the small snails and whole shrimp.





We left back to the motel at 4 am and went to sleep.