A couple of trips:

Since I've been here in Korea it's been pretty hard to get away for more than a day or so. I work 5 days a week and don't drive which does not leave much time for travel. However I have been able to see a bit of the country and I also have some trips planned in the near future.

Mokpo.

This 'small' port city is located in the south west of Korea and also happens to be Julie's hometown. She told me she was from a small fishing village so I was expecting mud huts and rice fields, instead I get a fairly large city with a population of 250,000. If Koreans think 250,000 people makes a town, then I don't know what they would call the towns outside of Toronto...

Anyways, after Julie's stay at the hospital she decided to go home for a few weeks to relax and recover. One weekend I decided to go visit and keep her company. I really enjoyed my stay there, I ate some delicious seafood and did a lot of sightseeing. Museums, ports and mountain hikes filled my time there. I was also introduced to San Nak Gee, which is live octopus that you eat while its still squiggling. (video to follow) Here are a few pictures from the trip.



I missed the spring cherry blosson festival in Seoul, but I managed to get a few good pictures in Mokpo. This is on the mountain, very pretty.





Near the top of the mountain was a lookout hut that had a great view of the city.



I can't exactly remember what this giant bell was used for, either it was to warn of the evil invading Japanese, or it was a gift from Japan... Same difference.




So yeah, Apparently there is this hero of Korea who was an Admiral in their navy, he outsmarted the Japanese by covering this giant rock with grain and making the Japanese think that there was a huge Korean army waiting for them. So this giant rock covered with grain scared the Japanese away and Korea was victorious... I thought this was funny and made a comment to Julie, she was all offended because this dude is a national hero. I guess I just don't get it. Well I guess if Laura Secord can be a National hero, anyone can.



Tiny fishing village of Mokpo...




The natural history museum was one of many new attractions that were built to try to boost the local economy.


My lunch in the city was excellent and included a 50 dish meal in a small private restaurant on the side of the mountain. My night was really fun on the port where the city was having some sort of festival complete with an outdoor stage with local korean pop singers performing, yay and a really cool fireworks show over the water that rivaled the Symphony of Fire back home. My only issue with being in a city like that was that there were no other foreigners to be seen, and I stood out like a sore thumb. Way more kids stopped and pointed while teenagers yelled 'Hello!' and giggled.