Seoul Tower

With Rick home from his five week Temporary Duty Assignment, we decided to visit Seoul for date night, and go up in the Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is is a communication and observation tower located in Namsan Mountain, central Seoul, South Korea. The tower has been a symbol of Seoul since 1980 and measures 777 ft in height. I equate it to the Saint Louis Arch. You can take an elevator up to the observatory deck, and there are gift shops..etc. We had been talking about checking this out since my first visit to Korea, and now we are down to less than a month, so we decided to check the box. I was thinking if we went at night, it wouldn't be as crowded as during the day. I was completely wrong.

When we arrived at Seoul, we jumped in a taxi and asked that he take us to Seoul Tower. Our cab driver was extremely friendly, and when I commented on how good his English was, he responded, "Muchas Gracious"

What a ham. He dropped us off, and we were informed we would have to walk up the rest. The incline was ridiculous, but we finally made it to the ticket booth. We purchased our tickets, and followed the arrows. We enter the base of the Tower, and attempted to peruse the gift shops as we waited for our block of numbers to be called. I quickly noted that everyone and their sister had decided to visit the tower with their significant other. Public displays of affection is not prevalent in Korea, but I guess the Seoul Tower really brings the romance out. Nearly every couple had their arms draped over each other, giggling, and oblivious to any legitidiment tourist that was trying to maneuver around their love-fest. We found a spot close to where the numbers were announced, and waited for our number to be called.

When our number came up, the herd of folks waiting nervously at the entrance GALLOPED to get in. I though, "Holy, MOSES, there must be something REMARKABLE around that corner" This mob looked like flesh-eating zombies that just found an opening in the warehouse that the last people on Earth were huddled in. They were wide-eyed and frantic. I tugged on Rick's jacket, and we stepped forward to be swept into the mob. I peered over all the zombie heads to try to see what was around this glorious corner. We turned down the hall, and there stood.....the same crazy zombies huddled in a group, radar-locked on the elevators. The doors opened, and everyone rushed in. We counted 24 people in the elevator. I glared at all the zombies that were smashed against me for getting my hopes up that there was something awesome around that corner. We reached the top, and exited the elevator. The observation deck is pretty cool. It's round, all glass, and has landmarks noted on the glass. It also lists major cities and how far away they are. The only disappointing thing was the glass was so dirty, on the outside, you couldn't see very well, much less get a good picture. We then stood in line to take the elevator down to the plaza. Here, there are GOBS of padlocks on a fence surrounding the plaza. The tradition is for a couple to place a lock on the fence, throw away the key, and their love is locked in forever. Who doesn't want that?! We placed a lock on the fence, but as we shut the clasp, there was not any mystical music, violins, or vaccume suction sound as I expected. I mean, if you lock your love in forever, shouldn't there be a sound involved?

We left the tower to find our favorite Greek Restaurant, Santorini. We had a wonderful meal, and then braved the Subway home. It's great to have Rick home!

-> Here are the zombies fighting to get to the Elevator

-> View from the top

->Oodles of locks

Locked in!

->Tree of locks

This is Thailand

My new partner in crime, Amy, and I arrived at the Osan passenger terminal after calling about flights to Japan. As we were instructed, we had a letter from the commander to allow us to travel being non command-sponsored, and were very excited to begin the adventure. We went to the desk to sign up for the flight, and our fun bus came to a screeching halt when we were informed our letter (that his office provided) was incorrect. The wording was supposed to state that we could fly to where our husbands were stationed, or back to the US. Capt. Fun-hater explained we could not just fly to Japan or Thailand for a vacation. I spoke up at that point and explained our husbands were actually temporarily stationed in Thailand. This comment was not appreciated nor did it get us the green light for the flight. We left the passenger terminal with our heads hung low; visions of our exotic vacation fading. The weather actually felt colder now that we weren't heading South.

My excitement could not be contained, however, and I suggested we go to the travel agency on the Base, and see if we could find any inexpensive vacations to a tropical location. We sat down at THAT office and explained what we wanted. We probably sounded like criminals trying to 'get out of dodge' as we just told them we wanted to go somewhere warm and leave as soon as possible. This was Tuesday. Thursday morning, we left for Thailand. I had not even had time to learn how to say the basic Thai phrases. I wrote them down, and put them in my backpack, just in case. It had snowed in Korea, and when we touched down in Thailand it was in the 90s. We practically sprinted off the plane, and towards our adventure. Part of our package included free transportation from the airport to the hotel. Unfortunately, there was not a kind Thai person holding a sign with our names on it. Hmmm.... We don't have cell phones, and they wouldn't do any good as we don't speak Thai. Luckily, Amy snagged a fella with the travel logo, and explained our situation. He looked over our flight information, and he got a driver there very quickly. They loaded up our bags, and we jumped into this large van. I fumbled with my seatbelt, and the driver hit the gas. I never saw any speed limit signs posted as we were driving too fast and all scenery was a blur. We careened around corners, dodged the millions of people on scooters with toddlers squished between two adults, and tried to not scream. We were, in fact, crazy world travelers, we shouldn't be fazed by this. We arrived at our resort, checked in, and were helped to our room. The bellhop explained all our room functions, which was surprisingly complicated. The door closed, and Amy and I exchanged 'WOW' looks. I unzipped my suitcase, and the phone rang. It was the front desk, and the conversation quickly got lost in translation, but she kept mentioning my flight. I told her I would be right down, picked up my travel documents, and reported to the front desk. It seems, the travel agent booked the wrong month for our stay at the resort. THIS explains why there was not a driver at the airport. For a brief moment, I thought about having to find a hotel room at 8 o'clock at night, in a foreign country in which I didn't speak one word of the language. I quickly decided that would put a crimp in our awesome vacation. I explained I would contact the travel agency tomorrow, but we would go ahead and stay. Then I stood there, not blinking, but smiling. We all agreed that would be the best plan.

The following day, we took full advantage of the breakfast buffet, and hit the pool. Glorious.

That evening, we walked downtown to find a Thai restaurant. We ate a wonderful meal for about four dollars.

Our trip consisted of the pool or the ocean during the day, finding a good restaurant at night, and some form of entertainment. Some nights we would take advantage of the excellent shopping district, or get an hour massage for six dollars. One night, we sat at an outside bar and watched the 'lady-boys' strut around the street taking pictures with tourists. We generally found a bar with a live band, requested Bon Jovi and soaked up the insane atmosphere. One night, we managed to sing AC/DC on a revolving stage with the band. I was so lucky to have found a gal that can travel in the same tsunami fashion as me.

Overall, we had an excellent trip. We went back to Korea with great tans, some crazy memories, and souvenirs (purses). Korea welcomed us home with a snowstorm. Not even that could damper the pride we felt in managing a spontaneous trip to Thailand.

>Matching temporary tats - we are so wild!

> Thai Boxing advertising