Seoul Tour

 This weekend we went on a tour of Seoul, South Korea.  The USO organizes tours for military members and we hadn't been off base yet.
We started off at the Cheonggye Stream.  

Flying Clark

Clark making a wish..well just throwing coins into the stream.

The stream has always been part of Seoul but after the Korean war, refugees started to settle along the banks.

As you can see from the picture I copied from Wikipedia, it wasn't the most attractive feature, so in the 1950s the stream started to be covered with cement.  The current president of South Korea had the stream remodeled in 2003 when he was Mayor of Seoul.

From the stream we went to Gyeongbok Palace and watched the changing of the guards.

Me sneaking a pic with the guard.  I later found out that you could do that without getting in trouble. 

Some day maybe he will stop hiding his eyes.

Animals that protect the King's Palace

"Gyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, is a royal palace located in northern Seoul, South Korea. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty.^[1] The name of the palace, Gyeongbokgung, translates in English as "Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven."
Nearly destroyed by the Japanese government in the early 20th century, the walled palace complex is slowly being restored to its original form prior to destruction. As of 2009, roughly 40 percent of the original number of palace buildings still stand or are reconstructed." (Wikipedia)

Inside the King's Palace. 

Only the king gets to have dragons on their palace.

Clark trying to hurry down the giant steps.

Clark trying to give his mother a heart attack.

And there was no way he was going to look at the camera. 

The palace had a National Folk Museum attached but it also had a children's museum.  Clint had the fantastic idea to go to the children's museum.

Clark got to play with some cook Korean "tools".

This was a gravel pit that helped kids learn about digging in the "dirt" and harvesting vegetables.

Getting ready to dive in.

Clark jumping into the ball pit.  He LOVED it in here. 

The President's "Blue House".  Our tour guide told us that the color blue is hard to find so the "rumor" is that the President had the roof made in the color blue to show his wealth and power. 

Cyclists.  Clint got excited about this one. Don't know why some of them had arm covers.  Its was really hot that day.  One guy even had a mask on.  I wondered what he was going to do when it was actually cold!

Clark really liked these characters.

"I'm going behind the chain, ok mom?"

Took the picture myself.  One of the few Clark is smiling.

Clark washing his hands in the high tech bathroom. They even had the Toto toilets that washed and dried you.  :)

Clark being President of South Korea

The last stop we made was the Amethyst store.  Clint and I both thought it was lame because it was just a jewelry store and it was a change in the schedule.  Originally we were planning on going to the Ginseng Center which sounded like it would have had some shopping, so we were disappointed.  We wanted her to show us the good places to shop that tourists wouldn't find on their own.  Oh well.

I took this picture because I liked that on all the light posts had these planters.  It made it really pretty and added a nice color to the city streets.

Clint liked these building so he took this picture.

Although we didn't get to do some shopping, it was fun to see Seoul and we actually felt like we are here.  The base is very American.  If you buy anything on post, it's in USD, all the signs are in English, except the Stop signs, then they are in both.  Even the power outlets are American.  So until we went on the tour, I didn't feel like we had left the US, but that we were visiting another city, kind of like Irvine.  It was kind of funny looking at a group of Americans taking a tour from an Asian all with cameras or other photography devices (iPad) when we are use to seeing a group of Asians going on a tour in the US. 

We are learning a lot about the culture as Clint goes through his in processing (orientation) and just from being around the people here.

Last night we left the base and found a nice hand made noodle place.  We were the only non-Koreans there, but it was delicious food and Clark did AMAZING! (For some reason, I can't get the photo to copy on the blog.) 

Aside from living in a small hotel room and sharing a  queen size bed we are enjoying ourselves.  Clark fell off the bed last night, but is fine. I think it freaked Clint out the most.  He's been sleeping on the couch while Clark and I get the bed.  Very nice of him and we all seem to sleep better...well better for being in a hotel.