Buddha's Birthday

Buddha's Birthday was coming up, so we had one final chance to travel. Blake and I had big dreams to go somewhere new and exciting. We thought maybe we'd see Japan, or Hong Kong, or Taiwan, or Thailand! So many exciting prospects!

We started searching flight prices. Things were not very good. The Canadian dollar is dire these days, and after brutal price conversions we were struggling to find anything on the semi-cheap side of things. But we were determined. We figured that the main hubs were probably expensive since it's such a big holiday in Asia, but surely the smaller/off-the-beaten-path spots would be cheaper. Right?

We pulled up Google maps and started searching any destinations that seemed relatively close by. Among many other places, we looked into flights to the following spots:

- Guam (a US territory in Micronesia)
- Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)
- Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
- The Aleutian Islands (Russia/US)
- Moscow (Russia)
- Manas (Kyrgyzstan) - we were only half serious
- Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Anywhere in Antartica... because at that point we were desperate

But alas. Each of these spots either had hella expensive flight prices, or steep in-country costs for only four days of travel. As you may have guessed, the flights to Antarctica pretty much didnt exist, and proved to be the most expensive flights to be found (roughly $4000 CAD and like millions of flights/hours to get there).

So, after a sad deep breath, we decided that we would do the financially sound thing and go to Seoul. Again.

But hey! Seoul is a cool spot! And given our level of meal hall resentment, it was time for some good eats. We found a great Airbnb right in Hongdae, the university area of Seoul, and spent four days hanging around and eating things. We had some highs, we had some lows.

On the first day, Blake somehow convinced me to go to a baseball game despite me having a 0% interest in sports (and an even smaller interest in baseball). I brought my Kobo. Here I am relatively unimpressed with the state of affairs.

But as it turns out, it was a fun cultural experience. Everyone has those whacky stick thingies and they do choreographies with them that everyone seems to know. The Koreans are so into it!

It ended up being a fun way to spend the evening. And I certainly appreciated the lovely views.

Next up: A Korean's interpretation/recreation of the dive bars he saw in the states. A hilarious concept, and the long islands were killer.

We had great weather for our second day. We were in the centre of Hongdae. 

We spent some time in Itaewon, which is foreigner-central but home to the best Western food which we were clearly dying for.

That afternoon Blake made us hike forever and ever up this gigantic hill in search of this new Canadian bar to get poutine (such a Canadian thing to do). The bar was definitely nowhere to be found. To soothe our sweaty selves we abandoned the search and went to Rocky Mountain Tavern, a Canadian bar we knew existed, for drinks. 

We also met some pals at Manimal, which is a delicious smokehouse. My god, I miss steak. We were all pumped to be there and ravenously demolished our meals. Hi Adam! Hi Brigid!

This is us when they gave us our plates:

Then our friends were like, duh, the other Canadian bar is right around the corner (... no idea why we went up that hill). So we went there and had drinks and even (a 4/10 version of) a beaver tail. It was a fun evening. A big congrats to Lucy and John for getting married!!!

On our third day we ran into some struggles. Luckily brunch was tasty.

Last time we were in Seoul I really wanted to see this garden but it didn't work out, so this time around we took zillions of hours of transit (both subway and train) to finally see this place. Here is Blake right after we almost took the wrong train.

We arrived way the hell outside of Seoul after a long journey, only for the skies to open up and POUR. So much for the garden. We essentially spent 4ish hours in transit to get a coffee. I was a sad little bunny at that point.

We got back on the train and headed back to Seoul.

But we're champs so we made the best of it. We got back just in time to meet some other pals working in Seoul for a night of trivia. Hi Maria! Hi Scott! We came in third last, so basically we were amazing.

Our last day was a hungover one, but we made it back to Jeju just fine.
Despite my desire to go somewhere more interesting, I was happy to eat the things and hang with Blake before we peace out of here.

I'm home so soon!!!!!!!

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, Blake finally got a haircut! Here is a (not great) candid from lunch the other day. The baby dino has returned.

Jeju Is Still Really Great I Promise

Happy birthday AND mothers day to my beautiful mother!!!

Despite what my last post may have led you to believe, it still stands that Jeju is a really nice island to live on and all is well. The lesson is that I shouldn't blog while hangry because then things sound dire and friends/family send me concerned messages.

I mean, the cafeteria is still the worst, as a recent typo to end all typos would suggest, but everything else is a-okay!

(thanks to Will for the amazing discovery)

Anyway.

Aside from the menu of stir fried crap sticks, Jeju is really gorgeous. There are all kinds of good things going on.

Nice hikes, for example.

Great spots for open mic:

Korean BBQ to eat:

Canola fields (which are CLASSIC Korean selfie territory)

Islands off this island that you can visit and bike around, like Udo 

Tourists who missed the memo that seagulls suck and happily feed them their snacks:

This:

Cherry blossom season:

Hilarious matching underwear sets:

Random dogs that befriend you and hang out with you for a while (this was seriously the best):

ENTIRE STORES dedicated to the absolute beauty and perfection of one of my biggest loves: succulents! I almost DIED when I came across this place. SO BEAUTIFUL, OMG!!!!!!

Random caves to check out:

One of the best desserts ever- bingsu! That red bean is DELISH!

Roof yoga on Wednesday mornings:

Beaches like this:

Amazing shirts:

These stickers:

Sunset swims from heaven:

Tiny markets:

Days where the fog makes things look awesome:

Great performances by some superstars I know:

And there is even a bar equipped with a ball pit, a rope ladder, some poles, copious amounts of free liquor, and I kid you not, a water slide.

It's T-minus 25 days until I jet out of here, so I am doing my best to enjoy it! It's weird to be so close to the finish line. I'm really excited to be back in Haliwood, but I am also going to miss my kids TERRIBLY. In sum:

FEELINGS.