DMZ

DMZzzzzz
Shanna and I had to wak up rediculously early 530am and headed to check out the DMZ and North Korea this Saturday.
It was interesting but quite disappointing.
We didn't see any Nukes, North Korean Propaghanda, Kim Jong Il or any of his many doubles (supposedly twelve of them!)
What we did see was a lot of Fence, Barbwire, security checkpoints, and very serious South Koreans.
For the most part we couldn't take pictures-security protocol.
But there was a few chances for some tourist cheese:
D.M.S in the D.M.Z.
Here I am outside one of the furthest North S.Korean army outposts. The "Nice1" unit Because if there was an attack they would be the 1st troops involved in fighting..nice

The north and south both do some peculiar things for show. The South built a fully operational train station to the tip of the DMZ "hoping someday of unifying the Koreas" by railway. The lights are on but nobody is home, it's huge, spotless, and nonfuntional.



Shanna with some of the troops stationed at train station turnstile.

You could hardly take any pictures during the trip, and we didn't get very close to the fence. We were at the Sorosan Lookout Station on a hill overlooking the DMZ and looking into North Korea with Binoculars. We weren't allowed to take pictures at the actual 'lookout' but had to stay behind a yellow line. Here Shanna looking into North Korea (with one of many many soldiers in the foreground)
You couldn't see much but you did get to see some North Korean Guard towers, the worlds highest flagpole (a pissing contest with the South Korean side) and something most peculiar a North Korean fake village. North Korea built fake houses, streets, stores etc. (why?) and sometimes plays glorifying slogans over loudspeaker into South Korea.
(the white buildings is the fake town)

One of the highlights of the trip was we went to the "3rd Infiltration tunnel"
get this: North Korea has been building massive tunnels under the DMZ going into South Korea for a SUPRIZE ATTACK on Seoul!
They've found 4 already (the last one in 1990). But they believe there is more. We visited the 3rd Infiltration tunnel which is 74 meters underground and a few kilometers long, with the ability to move 10,000 armed troops in an hour.
We walked down for 15 minutes to the bottom, then hunched over we walked to the first blockade of 3(fortified blast doors, peering into the Northern side of the tunnel)
We weren't allowed to take picture in there but this one I found off the web:
Here's Shanna next to a guard:

Here she is again, this time on patrol along the fence:
-see those white rocks? they are put into the fence and are checked daily, if they are loose that means someone is tampering with the fence and perhaps launching an attack (high tech gadgetry)

That's about it for our DMZ trip!
If your more interested in some more North Korean learning I recommend watching Vice TV's "Vice guide to North Korea"
one of their reporters was actually allowed to film inside North Korea a few years back (!!) and it's so odd. Very interesting stuff:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

If you haven't heard about North Korea's MASS GAMES then it's time you have. Basically NOrth Korea has their own olympics every year. The ceremony is absolutly phenominal!!
(all the background pictures are people holding coloured cards)


another Mass games, closer up of the dancers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWOEdy_-qM

tata,
-D

tour la seoul

this weekend was jampacked with touristy things. months of putting off the gym was made up for by trekking on foot for hours in +31C heat. and it's not just hot, it's humid and super sticky. swass, swoobs, swack, you name it, we've got it. not entirely comfortable.

dave's been obsessing over going to the dmz since we got here. a must do whilst in korea. so we went on saturday. he'll blog about that. after, we went to gyeongbokgong palace. expansive palacial grounds situated in downtown seoul. quite nice to see, but i was disappointed to find out that everything were replicas. the japanese destroyed the original once in 1592 and then again in 1915 after reconstruction (jerks). it was a pretty amazing site nonetheless, the painting of the roofs was so intricate and impeccable. and there was apricot trees all around the grounds (and apricot pits littered everywhere). the security guards kept shooing koreans away that were trying to shake them down from the trees. i wanted one, but dave couldn't reach. bah! what good is a 6 foot 5 tall man if he can't even reach his lady an apricot??

intricately painted roof:
where's dave?

oh there he is! (shanna + dave):

my ray of sunshine:

there was also the korean national folk museum on site (which was boring).

on sunday (although exhausted), we decided to go on a walking tour of "old and new" downtown.
unfortunately, the detailed instructions in the lonely planet were confusing at best. coupled with the extreme heat and fatigue, i was not a happy camper.

hurt leg acquired during walk (face displays mood):

somehow we made our way to seoul tower. which is pretty much like cn tower, but shorter and in seoul. (and kind of crappier--no transparent floor!). we took the cable car up (after a 20 minute walk uphill in sweltering heat). we found out when we reached there that it was additional money to actually go ALL the way to the top.

cable car up (notice red sweaty face and calm, cool, collected dave):

view from lower level:

we decided to forgo this option and enjoyed the lower level with the rest of the peasants. what's MOST interesting about the tower was located on this level anyway. the fence surrounding the tower is COVERED with locks proclaiming the love of many a couple. very cute and very romantic! of course dave and i participated in this tradtion. having not brought locks of our own, we paid highly inflated prices for both locks AND markers at the gift shop. but really, can you put a price on love??


locked up!:
now dave is mine. FOREVER!

-S.

News from the Korean Front

ANYONG!
Hey, it's been a few weeks since our last post so this might be a tad bit random.
Our school occasionaly has weekend activities where our attendance is mandatory (but we also get paid 100 dollars for going, so not bad). One of these weekend activities was 2 weekends ago: THE ENGLISH SPEAKING FESTIVAL
This festival was kind of a big deal, our school rented out a massive Auditorium at a close by University where our students showed off and competed against other classes using their English Skills in front of friends and family. Of course they chose me as the MC, which turned out to be a bit awkward. I was making all kinds of jokes etc. and nobody was laughing. Seriously I could hear fidgeting in the crowd. I'm officially blaming it on their lack of English. Anyway, our classes were great. I wrote a play about a school talent show with the acts based around the curriculum. GorgeousGorgeous! I felt like Mr.G from Summer Valley High (one of our favorite TV series).

Shanna's kids were also standouts.
Korean weather is crizazy these last few weeks. It's either balls ass hot, or pouring raining. So last weekend we were mondo excited to go and stay at an Island near Incheon. Frolick on the beach, drink beers while lounging, lazy reading, korean BBQ, frizbee in the sunshine...Aghh it was raining ALL weekend! Shanna and I were still planning on going out to the Island, play in the rain, read under tarps, etc. so we woke up at 6am and prepared for the long taxi-subway-bus-ferry trip to the Island. 2 hours into our trek we get a call from our friend DEVONE telling us that the trip is cancelled. 12 people + ALL bailed. WTF!!!! We woke up sooooo early, packed awesome gear, met up with Alex and Mark paid for a taxi was riding a subway.. We recouped our losses by stopping for a little taste of heaven McDonalds Breakfasts. The opportunity to up early enough to eat a McDonalds breakfast only presents itself once yearly. So I eat 2 meals to myself to indulge. Shanna felt like she shit after her meal, I was satisfied and bustin with calories to burn. We ended up having a dece day afterall. We went home, napped and lazily watched movies. Then went out to shopping and sightseeing in Seoul. Saturday night we went out with our friend Steven David to a cute french restaurant "Noel". Shanna ordered one of the tastiest salads: with big slices of seared Tuna...aghhh.
Steve and I stopped by one of the many Shooting Galleries - very popular in Korea. I'm a sniper. My score was 2,100, Steve had a dismal 200.
Then we went to one of our favorite lounges in Hongdae "Our PLace" and had more drinks and some excellent conversation. I miss that.

Then on Sunday with intense cravings for vitamin P (poutine) we made a long journey to New York Fries in Gangnam.

If you can't tell from the picture Shanna is quite upset that New York Fries was closed on Sunday. It even had pictures of their poutines to mock us!

After that we went to one our most favorite things in Korea. Dr. Fish!

It feels so amazing, like little electric shocks all over your feet as the fishes swarm and nibble all over. Its the most ticklish when they get in between your toes. This time Dr. Fish was a bit more intense-some of the fishes were BIG!

It's hard to get a good picture, they are moving fast and there is ripples in the water


With our feet tingling, and pulsing we walked to our favorite mexican eatery DOS TACOS. Moi Beuno!!
If we are in an area that has a DOS TACOS it's very hard to resist. I dare say it's better than any Mexican in Saskatoon. (GASP!)
[Korean flare: they spell tequila tequira, since l's and r's sound the same for Koreans]

Shanna has been obsessing about getting a dog when we get home. "Dave can we get a french bulldog when we move back?!?" ...20 times a day!
Here's the reason for the incessent asking:

I've got to admit --pretty cute
To make her pleeeeeeeeease dave-dog pestering even worse our friend Rob and Huen just got a new dog
A couple nights ago we went out with some peeps for Sushi. Sushi in Korea is raw fish-no rolls and that mess. Just sushimi style, and other rawness. Each restaurant prides themselves as fresh-with tanks and tanks of fish they kill and cut moments before your plate.
We had some odd delicacies and delicious sushi. We ate octopus that was still moving around on the plate. I tried to eat it, and the tentacle was suctioned onto my chopstick and it was wiggling in my mouth. We also had some raw sea squirt. Which tasted like the Tide rolling in--your mouth. Odd. We also ate what Shanna and I call "jizzy dicks" . Those we still moving our plate too. I didn't mind them but the texture and look of them -not so great.
(here's a picture of some jizz dicks in a tank)
We also ate our weight in sushimi sea bass, some tuna, salmon, conche, raw scallops, and oysters. It was an interesting meal but not something I'd want to have again anytime soon.

Shanna and I are in love with our Korean Magic Bullet (not actually a Magic Bullet). We make smoothies everymorning with frozen fruit and yogurt. Delish!
here's our magic bullet next to our vaccum.
We don't really have any counter space, or tables. So do some operations on the floor.

Last night our cable was being wonky with a message in Korea that wouldnt leave our TV screen. So we called our Korean friend Anthony over for some help. He quickly fixed the situation and then showed us some CRAZY SHIT we have with our cable package.
We've had it for like 4 months and we only knew the tip of the ice-berg. Sasktel Max or whatever PLLLEAAAAASEEEEE.. Qook (our cable provider) has got you beat.
Where do I begin. Video on Demand has seriously over 300 English movies that you can pause, rewind etc anytime for free. It's got full seasons of entire TV series too. It also has games to play with your remote, extensive karaoke, new issue-virtual magazines (flipping through pages on your TV), daily newpapers, internet browser, porn, yoga-arobics-workouts, and tons of new pay-for movies for 1.50 each (there's more we haven't explored yet!).
Oh nooooo, now we're going to flipping thru ALL this instead of watching something.

This weekend, Shanna and I are going to go on a DMZ tour.
To check out North Korea!!

-D

Aquariums Rule

Good Aquariums rule
not those lame aquariums with fake houses, plastic trees and goldfishes= sucky
so to top of our "W"onderful weekend we went to COEX AQUARIUM on Sunday.
Shanna already liked COEX: the mall's Mascots are two Moles, which reminded Shanna of her Mole factory boyfriend. Besides the Mascots COEX is a must see while in Seoul. There's tons of shops, a casino, movie theater, department store/grocery store, and a big ass aquarium.
We visited the big ass Aquarium and it was crazy awesome--the fact that I have a passion for watching Animal Planet and Nat Geo Wild brought it to a whole new level.

Things I like in an Aquarium:
deep sea fishes -check!
sharks- check!
gag fish aquariums- check!
obscure fish- check!
tropical fish including coral- check!
sea turtles and manta rays (tie) -check!

Obviously my check lists and words aren't doing it justice. So onto the pictures!


the entrance to COEX -already having fun


Electric Eels are excellent while swimming in the sewers in Ninja Turtles 1 (NES) but even better live!

Deep Sea Jellyfish- mezzzzmerizzzzzzzzing majezzzzzzzzzztic

Thousands of Sardines swimming in a mass school. I love it!

They had tons of Sharks this one is a black tip[real]

Shanna in a Shark's Mouth [not real]. Shanna "get me outta here, this is gross!"
Shanna's favorite shark: the hammerhead


my favorite fish out of the whole aquarium: cowfish. They are so cute. They swim/ hover with their tiny flippers like aquatic humming birds

True or False: Manta Rays rule -TRUE
It's a Gag! I'm fuckin with you! ...fish in the toilet, what next??!
oh they've done it! fish in a phone booth!!!
-but it's an emergency the aquariums on fire!

there were real crocodiles (including an albino one) but I coudn't resist this photo.
..feirce
sea horses are cool. this one is gnarly ( sideways)

I loved Sea Turtles before Finding Nemo made them "cool"
there was also a tide pool touch and feel zone. Shanna played with the starfish.

I could go on and on all night with more pictures of the aquarium. But I need to wrap up. Other highlights include:
a two headed turtle
the largest freshwater fish: the piraruca
penguins and seals
cool land animals including: exotic toads, bats, and monkeys
huge deepsea crabs
chinese sturgeons



-D

birthday blog

pop quiz.

'W' stands for:
a)wow
b)wonderful
c)out of this world
d)all of the above.

if you answered 'd', you would be correct. dave and i just finished an unbelievable weekend, much thanks to my amazing friends. as you all may (and should) know, i celebrated my 25th this last wednesday. and although i was a bit sad to be that much closer to 30, it was pretty damn great. i am so spoiled in the fact that people insist on pulling out all stops for me.

after a grueling day of teaching the kidlets, i was was welcomed home by a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a special card from my one and only. we went to our favorite new restaurant thats literally a 2 minute walk from our house. it's a cute little pasta bistro that actually has good food. for some reason koreans always end up doing "western" food a little funny. like pizza... with corn or bread... with frosting butter. it's weird. and gross. but this place is SO good and has quickly become a favorite. afterwards, dave surprised me again with an ice-cream cake fit for a queen from baskin robbins. seriously puts dq cakes to shame.

flowers by dave:


delicious pasta bistro:


unbelievable ice-cream cake!


he then told me that my most amazing friends in the WORLD had arranged for us to stay at the W hotel for the weekend. i was ECSTATIC. i've been wanting to stay at the W since we got here. words cannot begin to describe how great it was. the room was gorgeous and had a spectacular view of the han river. seriously the best hotel i've ever been to. if you ever have the opportunity to stay at a W hotel, DO it. you won't regret it!

room:


view:
woobar, the longest bar in seoul:

for the rest of my birthday present, dave took me shopping in one of my favorite shopping districts, sinsa. it's a really modern area filled with cute boutiques, coffee shops and bistros. a huge vitamin water (my drink of choice) opened up and they were giving away FREE bottles through a cleverly named game called drinko (exactly like plinko). i had almost bought one moments before in a store, but they didn't have my flavor. in true birthday fashion, i ended up getting my favorite flavor! score!

free vitamin water? YES!


delicious multi-v:


afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to make our dinner reservation. to my pleasant surprise, a found a decadent piece of cake waiting for me in our room when we got home. being the superfriends that they are, my friends had gotten the hotel to sneak a piece of cake in while we were gone. the best!

we had a delicious supper and were presented with a birthday cake at the end. i guess my room had been flagged as a birthday celebration and the lovely staff at the W took it upon themselves to make dinner extra special. loves it!! we decided to try our luck at the casino next door in the sheraton. which is specifically for foreigners only. no koreans allowed! no big money was won though...after, we headed up to the room and had a nice relaxing night drinking wine, taking in our balcony view and eating my (third) birthday cake. probably the best weekend i've had so far here. absolutely amazing!! thank you so much to my special ladies. you know who you are and i love you all very much!

maxing and relaxing:


it's been a birthday extravaganza these past few weeks. it seems that every weekend dave and i have been celebrating a different birthday... that and my super sweet 16 has started playing on the (very limited) tv here. but here it's known as "super rich girls b'day". ha! so ridiculous. dave despises it, but i think he's just jealous that i didn't get jermaine dupri or g-unit to play at his birthday. OR have a designer dress picked out for him and a parade downtown (seriously, so ridiculous). anyways, back to what i was saying, birthday has been an all encompassing theme here:

we celebrated birthdays at school (complete with the traditional kissing):


kiss kiss:


some like it more than others:

we celebrated with our toronto friend mark:


and we celebrated with our fellow saskies devone and steve david:



ahhh. birthdays. always such a delight.