Korea Day 1

Whoa, hey there! I almost forgot I had a blog there for a second. ;)

Just joshin' of course. I've just been way to tired to even think about blogging at the end of the night. It may not seem like a lot but when you're on vacation, walking 5-6 miles a day touring all over the place really takes a toll out of you. But alas, our amazing vacation in Korea has ended so I'm back in the game and ready to blog again!

But guess where I'm blogging from now?

Tokyo, Japan!!!

We're only here for a day or two while we wait to catch a military flight back to the states but we're taking every opportunity we can to explore as much as possible in the short time we have. So far we've visited some unique shops and have went to town on delicious sushi. But that post will come another time, for now it's finally time to catch up on our days in Korea.

Korea has been my home for the majority of my life, it's where my mother is from, where my parents met and got married, where all of my family lives, and where I've made so many wonderful memories. It's a very special place to me so bear with me as I bombard this blog with a million posts about our trip.

Our first day there we ended up not doing too much. We were so tired from traveling 15 hours to get to the country that all we wanted to do was have a nice, relaxing day of walking around and getting the hunk acquainted with the place I call home.

So early that morning, we woke up a little too early thanks to jet lag but just in time to catch the beautiful sunrise over the mountains near my parent's condo.



Then, my mom surprised us with a delicious juice of beets, celery, spinach, apple, carrots, and tomato. My parents are also huge health nuts so she made a vegetable juice for us almost every morning while we were there. It was the perfect way to start our busy days of touring one of my favorite countries!



Later, we spent the afternoon walking around The 'Ville which is a strip of restaurants, bars, and boutiques situated right outside the military base and which is also where I spent a lot of my teen years hanging out. I showed the hunk my favorite restaurants, my favorite street food carts, and also a few of my favorite theme bars and clubs.





For our first meal out in Korea, I took the hunk to my favorite fried chicken spot, Saku Saku chicken. I know, I know, way to go to Korea and not even eat Korean food for our first meal.

But in our defense, Korean fried chicken is unlike any other fried chicken I've ever had. They season it  with a roasted garlic and spicy, sweet soy sauce and it's such a unique flavor that's impossible to describe, even the hunk couldn't stop gushing over how delicious it was. Plus, just like at all Korean restaurants, you're given a free variety of sides to compliment your food, so that makes the fried chicken even more Korean, right? ;)



After filling our bellies, we then ventured further down the strip so that I could show the hunk what a Korean coffee shop is like.

Any jaws dropping over those ridiculous prices? As affordable as Korea can be, coffee shops are one of the more expensive places to visit because they raise the costs of their drinks to offset the costs of patrons spending hours at the shop. They also serve alcohol and cocktails since they're used as a place for friends to get together, sit and chat FOREVER.

It's such a relaxed environment and I loved being able to spend a few quiet hours with the hunk explaining to him about all of the places I frequented while growing up.

After we finished hanging out downtown, we met up with my parents to get fitted for our Hanboks (traditional Korean clothes) for Caleb's first birthday party.

Never in a million years did I think I would see my husband rocking a Hanbok so I could not stop laughing at how cute he looked and how adorably he was handling both the shop owner and my mom fussing over him.

He was such a great sport about everything :)

When we finished, we all hopped in the car and drove around the Air Base to show the hubs where I went to school, where I used to swim competitively, and a few other places I loved going to as a child.

Finally, we ended our first day in Korea with yet another not-so-traditional Korean meal. But again in our defense, Korean pizza is also unlike the kind of pizza we're normally used to seeing.

We had a Korea bacon and yam sauce pizza on a green tea crust and finished the entire pie before they could even bring out our kimchi and pickles (yes they serve kimchi and pickles with every meal).

Hey, we were kind of hungry and the pizza was kind of good. And by good, I mean freaking phenomenal ;)

So that was our first, pretty uneventful day in Korea! It seems like it was so long ago and though I'm only 2 hours away here in Japan, I'm already feeling those pangs of homesickness deep in my heart. I hope you all don't mind reminiscing with me as I share the rest of our vacation next!