Mini-Vacation

It was Korean Thanksgiving this week. The kids looked so cute! I think it's so cool they still dress up like this, even though the country has changed so much. I hope they won't loose these traditions.

Like father, like son.Grandma's gettin serious on this sandcastle.Heels on the beach! What!?Sun bathing in Korea requires and umbrella!Everyone swims fully clothed at the beach, except this brave old man in his speedo. It was pretty funny to watch everyone snickering!

This weekend I am spending a couple of days at the beach in Incheon, about an hour outside of Seoul. My whole plan this weekend was to get away, spend some time alone and just refresh. It's turning out to be a little bit different than what I'd expected. I actually took a bus to the airport and then wanted to take a taxi to the hotel. As I stepped out of the airport, this taxi driver offered to take me where I wanted to go. I thought it sounded a little fishy since there was not a taxi car in sight. He then proceeded to ask me how much I would be willing to pay for the ride. I gave him a confused look, because no taxi driver before has asked me to name my own price. Then he offered a price. It was a ridiculuous amount of money. He thought he could scam me because I'm a foreigner. I knew the hotel was only 10 minutes away, and it sure wouldn't cost $60 to get there! I kept saying no, no, no, and telling him that it was close. He got very frustrated with me and finally left in a huff. Thank goodness I knew enough Korean to prove I'm not a naive American.

I was really looking forward to a bathtub in the hotel room (since I don't have one in my apartment), but sadly there is only a shower. :( I thought, well, I guess I'll just have to take a really long shower. No again, the water never gets much warmer than lukewarm... The little town here is cute. The beach is very tiny, but nice. I didn't realize that the tide is opposite on this side of the world! The tide goes out at night, where as at home it comes in. Interesting!

The restaurant situation is a little tricky too, since the hotel's restaurant is closed and all the restaurants here are the sharing type meal, so you can't go alone. I searched and searched, but couldn't find anything around. I found a fried chicken place, in which I had to order a whole bucket of chicken, because they didn't have personal sizes. Lets just say I paid a lot of money for it and I'm eating chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Both the lady at the chicken restaurant and the two people who randomly came and sat with me on the beach, were very concerned about why I was there alone. They said in Korean, "Where are your friends?" Haha! I guess they thought I would be lonely and came up to keep me company.

Sadly, my camera broke after my first day...so I'm not sure what to do about it.

But, I'm reminded that I didn't come here for the bathtub or the restaurants. I came here to get refreshed, read, write, and be away from noise in the city. Mission accomplished (except for a random rooster that crows all day long on the beach!) :)