Summer 2017 - Hawaii to Korea Trip

June 25, 2017 Another free day.  Russell and I called home to check on the boys and realized how much we miss them.  We found out that the family had all come down with the cold/flu. Mikey was better and went to spend the weekend with Uncle Moses. While Joey was at  Ong Ba's house,  in bed and feeling horrible.  On the bright side, they are all too sick to cause trouble for their grandparents.  Nicole loved Yoogane so much that she wanted to go back for lunch.  We ordered the kim chee fried rice as well. We were seated at the window where the gawkers including our own family watch us eat.  I don't think Nicole can get tired of shopping!  I accompanied her on another shopping spree before she left at 2pm to meet up with a girlfriend.  That girl has friends all our the world!  There was downtime so I thought it was an appropriate time for afternoon tea. We had picked up a couple slices of 20 layers crepe cake fr...

June 24, 2017 We said goodbye to Greg and his lady friend this morning. He is moving on to business in Germany while Wendy goes home.  Russell, Steven and I sat down for breakfast with them for one last time.  We congregated in Hollys Coffee next to the hotel's lobby. Today's a free day so that we can take it easy. Russell went with the gang to check out train tickets to Busan while I stayed back to do laundry. Laundry service inside and outside the hotel was outrageous so a bottle of detergent from 7 Eleven, the bathroom sink, and good old manual labor had to suffice.  Russell returned a few hours later with no luck in ticket purchases. He mumbled something about needing to do it on the computer first...yada yada yada.  It was lunchtime and I wanted to try something new. We went to Myeongdong shopping area and tried Yoogane. They specialize in dak-galbi (marinated chicken) and cooked at table side. Since there was four of us (Russell, Matty, Ni...

June 23, 2017 Today's destination - Incheon, Korea's largest Chinatown. Today was the day that we are reminded that it's the journey not the destination. Trying to navigate a foreign train system is not an easy task  and doing it with two wheelchairs and 16 people is a challenge. We started out on the wrong train and needed to go back a few stops before getting back on track.  (Thanks to Russell's  neurotic  map checking). Incheon Chinatown is known for food such as sweet and sour pork, assorted seafood and vegetables with mustard sauce, j jajangmyeon  (noodles with black soybean sauce), fortune cookies, mooncakes,  and  gongal breads (Pita Bread).  Ben has family roots in  Incheon  and had lived in Korea in his early childhood. Ben wanted to eat Jjajangmyeon and found a restaurant in the heart of Chinatown.  We ordered various sweet and sour dishes as well as  different  assortments of Jjajangmyeon.  T...

June 22, 2017 A little business before pleasure this morning for me. I signed in to a staff meeting at 6am (2pm California time). The meeting ended in time for Russell and I to pick up breakfast at a nearby sandwich place before the DMZ tour.  Our private tour bus picked us up promptly at 8am. The DMZ will be toured at the end of the day. First stop was the War Memorial. We learned a few things about the history of the Korean War.  All males between the ages of 18 - 35 in South Korea have mandatory service in the military for at least 22 months.  The second stop was the Odusan Unification Tower.   It is located near Jayu-ro where Han River and Imjin River cross. From the Observatory you can see the North Korean land. Looking through the telescopes, we can see people walking, biking, and working in the fields.  It's surreal to see it with our own eyes.  Our tour guide then took us to a BBQ restaura...