Blue Heart Journey: Seoul, South Korea

There is an annual conference held for each region in the MSG program where all of the Detachment Commanders and their families (if available) come together to meet the command, meet one another, discuss issues, conduct training, and participate in various activities. The conference is held at various locations at various times each year. Last year the conference was in Bangkok, which was great aside from me being sick for the latter half of the trip. This year the Region Command chose to have the conference in Seoul, South Korea. I was thrilled about the location since I had never visited there before. We planned to take advantage of this trip and take a few days of leave (vacation) while in Seoul and then visit Beijing afterwards. We were gearing up for a two week trip that included plenty of work and play.

We flew on Korean Air and easily had our best overseas flight experience. The staff was friendly, the plane had plenty of legroom, the in-flight entertainment options were excellent, and the food was superb. I always order the gluten-free diet meals due to my allergy. They typically are nothing special and sometimes not good at all. During this long trip we flew on Korean Air four times and during each flight my food was delicious. Prawns, scallops, salmon, and vegetables with basmati rice; Douglas was certainly jealous. If ever given the choice, I would always choose Korean Air.

We landed in Seoul’s Incheon Airport at 5:00am local time. We were scheduled to take the shuttle bus from the Airport to Yongsan Army Base where we would stay for our nine days in Seoul. Taxis cost approximately $65 one-way and we could not check into the lodging facility until noon, so we were happy to wait three hours at the airport for the free shuttle. It didn’t take Douglas more than two minutes to make himself a bed out of a bench and his backpack. Marines – they really can sleep anywhere!

Yongsan Army Base was an hour drive from the airport. Douglas and I had not been on a military installation since visiting the two Marine bases in Beaufort, South Carolina in April 2013. Although this was not a Marine base we still felt very much at home. Yongsan Base is vast, filled with all the typical on-base amenities and plenty of restaurants to choose from. Douglas was pretty excited to see a Popeye’s. He doesn’t do much fast food but there are those few places that are still a treat for him. We were surprised to see Popeye’s had a delivery service. Who gets Popeye’s delivered? Is it not already bad enough that such fatty food is being consumed but now we don’t even have to walk/drive there to burn a few calories? Geez…could we be more spoiled?

And McDonald's delivers too...

Coming from Hanoi it was comforting to be in a city where cars drove in an orderly fashion, people abided by the rules of a stoplight, and law enforcement actually enforced laws! It was even nicer to breathe in fresh, clean air again. I do love Hanoi, but I certainly look forward to time out of the city simply to get away from the pollution that permeates the air and the constant noise from drivers honking their horns.

\We did so much during our nine days in Seoul. We visited the War Memorial of Korea, N Seoul Tower, the day and night markets, popular shopping districts, Buckchon Hanok Village, attended the DMZ and JSA tour, went to a professional baseball game, and did the Jjimjilbang thang at Dragon Hill Spa. Though Seoul was not on our bucket list while living in Asia, it surely was worth the visit.

I caught a glimpse of their basket and was almost freaked out by the cat inside staring back at me.

Cute...but also a little creepy at first glance.

We passed a "gym park"

Korean women seem to love color, especially on their feet.

Now here's a fashion statement!

Clothing wasn't the only expensive item in Seoul..I couldn't believe the cost for grocery items. More than $9 for ONE pack of bacon!

$12.48 for a pack of gummy bears!

$19.71 for a bottle of Aveeno...I'd rather be ashy!

$5.85 per pack of peppers. This might be normal for America but in Vietnam this cost about $2.

Bananas on sale for $4.46. The same amount cost $1 in Vietnam.

Why are these Famous Amos cookies almost $8?

$7.82 for a bag of Pop Chips that is mostly air!

If there's one cheap item in Asia, it should be rice, but not here...$33 per bag.

And $16.64 basically for red water!

After seeing these prices, needless to say that I did most of my shopping at the Commissary on base where the prices were normal. I stocked our refrigerator up with fruits, yogurts, deli meat, cheese and veggies. The bulk of my travel money was not about to get spent on food.