Out of hibernation!

So now that winter is officially over here in Korea (longest winter of my life!) I can come out of hibernation and catch you all up on what we have been doing since the sun has come out. There has been a lot of bike riding around the city lately, and we have met some great friends who enjoy biking as well!

Here are some pictures of us biking through Pyeongtaek (the city we live in):

This is a lake we like to bike to, it is in an area of our city that is expanding.. surrounding us were about 30+ cranes building new high rises.. if you can believe it!

(Oops! Flat tire!)

(The tall high rises to the right are where we live!)

When we are done biking we usually hit up the local Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, or in this case the ice cream fondue!

This would be our biking gang; Andy, Tyler, Bobbie Jo, Zak, Me and April!

Oh and did I mention there is also some late night biking involved to get fried food?!

And the best way to cure cabin fever during the winter is going out for some drinks, here is a photo diary of our nights out locally and in Seoul... and oh yes, here in Korea you can pull the ice out of your beer and throw it at a wall for a chance to win another beer...

...and that is exactly what Zak did! 

 Drinking on the train.. one of our favorite past times..

Soju Bowl!!!!!! 

Oh and Pip made some new friends as well! Here she is with Einstein and Vamp :)

Her best defense is kicking big dogs in the face, and well, its her only defense!

Another update soon! Thanks for reading

xxx

Two Years Ago Today..

Zak and I made one of the biggest, yet easiest decisions of our life.. getting married. I can't even begin to say how happy I am to be able to share all of the moments that are on this blog, and many more, with each other. So here is to many more special moments, adventures, and years of happiness! I love you Zak Moreland!

*Happy Anniversary!*

Indoor theme parks and Korean theater shows!

      Earlier this month Zak and I decided to take a trip to "Lotte World" (pretty much everything in Korea is owned by Lotte.. even our apartments!) the world's largest indoor theme park! It is estimated that 8 million people visit Lotte World every year. I can see why, because it was below freezing outside and we were on the inside having fun on the roller coasters! Lotte World does have an outside portion with more thrilling rides, and we braved the cold for a few of them.

There were roller coasters going in and out of the walls, pharoah boats almost touching the ceiling and even an ice skating rink (which we did not attempt to do, due to the fact that the little 5 year old Korean speed skaters would have shown us up!). And this is me upside down on a ride..

All in all it was a very neat place to visit for a few hours, I would recommend not going on a weekend though if you can.. the lines can get verrrrrry long! 

The weekend after visiting Lotte World we decided to go see a Korean theater show called "JUMP". It is a martial arts based comedy show, with very little talking so we were able to understand the whole show. I definitely recommend seeing this show if you are in Seoul and have 2 hours to spare. Not only were the stunts awesome but it had the laughs to back it up! But before we went to the show we walked through some market areas in Seoul, the one I am pictured in below is Namdaemun Market, I had to cover my purse's eyes as we ventured through the land of fake purses hehe...

Then we randomly found a giant digital screen on our walk to the theater...

And here we are with our best "JUMP" pose as we were heading in to see the show:

Thanks for reading 

xxx

Hwaseong Fortress

This blog should have been posted in January, but here it is now! :)


A few weeks ago we went to check out The Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. It is about a 45 minute drive from where we live and we brought Pip along for the hike! The interesting thing about this Fortress is that it contains a city on the inside, instead of protecting the land like I have seen with many other ancient landmarks. Korea sure knows how to utilize their space. 


The Hwaseong Fortress was built in the late 18th century by King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty to honour and house the remains of his father Prince Sado, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father King Yeongjo having failed to obey his command to commit suicide. (wikipedia)


And now for the photos:

 We had to take our shoes off through parts of the Fortress that they are trying to preserve:

A peephole to Korea! This is looking at the city surrounding the Fortress:

Zak and Pip getting snowed on!

 I don't know how many stairs we climbed this day, but it was definitely a lot to reach the top!

We all three got to ring the bell at the same time, you ring it three times, once for your parent's health, once for your family's good fortune, and once for yourself. It was pretty loud and Pip did not enjoy it as much as we did!

And finally King Jeongjo:

And something else interesting we saw as we were passing through the inner city was a car being steam washed! It gets so cold here that you don't get your car washed with water, but with steam instead. 

Thanks for reading xxx

Times Square in Korea

This past weekend Zak, Joe, and myself visited the Times Square in Yeongdeungpo. It is just south of the river in Seoul, and one train stop before Seoul Station. We haven't had the chance to visit "Times Square" yet (which ironically is not a square at all.. more like a group of 8 story buildings... but here in Korea you build UP not OUT!) and since we wanted to see the new movie "The Green Hornet" I knew that Yeongduengpo had a 4D theater to see it in. Probably the coolest thing about seeing movies in Korea is being able to see them in 4D. You have the water, wind, lazers, random punches in the back, etc. IT IS AWESOME. :)

When we got off the train in Yeongduengpo we had to walk a few blocks to get to Times Square, it was frigid cold and I didn't think about bringing an extra jacket layer over my thick sweater (silly me thinking I am in Florida). But when we entered the main building I discovered that apparently Times Square is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon...

I title this... how many people can you fit on an escalator? (Actually I need to photograph how many people can fit in an elevator.. you would be surprised!.. I have been in an elevator that wouldn't move due to having too much weight in it.)

Zak waiting in line at Smoothie King, it was so busy that you needed a pager.

OMG!! Auntie Anne's!!!!!! In Korea! This is the #1 thing I said that I missed from the states, a yummy soft pretzel from Auntie Anne's. Unfortunately I didn't eat one because I just had lunch, but I am totally going back to get one!!!!

Zak heading into the 4D theater!

After the movie we were heading out for some dinner and saw this neat statue..

And me walking to dinner (freezing my arse off)

And finally, here is our dinner (Joe I forgot what this was called please chime in in the comments and let me know the proper name!) It was pressure cooked chicken with noodles and vegetables, sooooo good:

Thanks for reading, we just visited the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, a blog to follow soon!!

xxxx