Seoul Survivor

Spent the weekend in Seoul with a friend (Andres) and a couple that lives in the city. Andres met them on a previous trip to Seoul. Danny & Katrina own a small house slightly bigger than my one room apartment. Danny insisted it was a house. They are both from South Korea, but in one year they will be moving to the world's 8th most livable city: Perth, Australia! Note that on the same list, The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Melbourne, Australia as #1. Danny works as a civil engineer. He claims that engineers are not as highly regarded in Korea as they are in Australia and earn as much as (if not less than) construction workers. Like me, he studied in Australia in the past and always knew that he wanted to go back. He eventually wants to open his own business. Katrina doesn't speak English ... yet. She chose her English name just two weeks before I met her. While Danny likes business & science, Katrina is more interested in art --and cats! If we shared a spoken language, I think we would have gotten along very well. Danny & Katrina just returned from their first trip to Perth taking a tour of the region that they will eventually call home. They showed us sunny pictures of port-side mansions on the harbour. I want to go, too!

Danny & Katrina are the nicest (and only) English-speaking couple that I've met. I swear these opportunities never reveal themselves to me because I look Korean    *rolls eyes*    Not only did they allow us to stay at their home, but they also brought us little stuffed koalas from Perth. Best souvenirs ever. They also fed us fruit and helped us navigate a 10-hour day tour of Seoul.

Statue Illusions

The statue is carved to look distorted. It's trippy.

View from the side.

Playing an old traditional Korean game where you throw arrows.
You can barely see Seoul Tower in the back.

We walked 2.6km up to Seoul Tower --1.2km of which were just stairs. Everyone was exhausted, but I was determined to get to the top!

Resting on a bench. Looking up at Seoul Tower.

There were 2 things worth seeing after the 2.6km hike ........

1. A panoramic view of Seoul

2. A LIVE Mexican band!!!! Reminded me of home.

People stick locks & plastic tags onto these trees with notes about
love, promises, friendship, blahblahblah

Behind me, an old beacon of war!
(the brick tower, not the man)

My legs were all wobbly after walking down from the Tower.

Next, we went to Cheonggyecheong (Stream) to observe the 3rd Annual Seoul Lantern Festival. The walk up and down the stream comprised another 2.6km. By this time, everyone was beyond exhausted, but I wanted to see every lantern lest we missed a good one.

Robot Taekwon

Koi Fish & Clown Fish

Statue of Liberty --AMERICAAA!!!

Dolphins

Lotus Lady

We set our alarms for 5:30am on Sunday morning because Danny & Katrina needed to travel to a wedding by that afternoon. I dismissed all 3 of my alarms and woke up spontaneously at 6:45am. It was quiet. Turns out that everyone else in the other room also overslept their alarms. We left an hour later than originally planned. Katrina left us with a bag of tangerines and chestnuts to eat at the bus terminal. She and Danny were so nice. We might make plans to see each other again sometime, but we'll see how things go!