My Visit to Gyeongbokgung and Trip to Gochang

It's been a while so this post is a double header. Things have been a little slow so I haven't been updating but I (kind of) recently went to Seoul and met up with a few NYPPC people and more recently went to Gochang for hiking with the English Ministry church that I attend.

So first up is my trip to Seoul. It was really great. The palace not so much, but meeting up with familiar faces was something I really needed.

Lovely NYPPC-ians.

A brief history lesson about this palace, Gyeonbokgung (from Wikitravel):
It's the first palace used by the Joseon Dynasty. It was invaded by the Japanese in 1592 but most of it has been restored. It's near the Blue House (Korea's White House).

I misplaced my glasses so because I'm aware of the fact that my eyes look smaller without glasses, I tried widening them every picture.

Haha She wasn't satified with the first.

Sigh, the fat gathers all in my face...

I really enjoyed that weekend.

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Next on the double header was my trip to Gochang and hiking up 선운산. Looking at the pictures above, I decided not to take as many pictures of myself for a while. Instead I did some research and learn some great tips for taking photos. I learned stuff like learning to see the light, taking pictures with new perspectives, stuff like that. Sadly the only I remembered was taking pictures really really close. So fair warning, I went a little overboard with that technique. Enjoy.

This tree or whatever it was, is suppose to make you smarter. Do I feel smarter, why I think I does.

An American dollar!

Okay so somewhere around here I got lost. I went hiking with my church's English Ministry here. We took a brake at one of the peaks, and so I was a little behind the head of the group. So I wanted to catch up to them and left the tail of the group. I was speed hiking up the mountain and I couldn't seem to catch up to them. So I figured I got lost. For about an hour I didn't see anyone from our group. For about 30 minutes of that hour, I didn't see any humans at all. I didn't worry and kept going.

[Still on my own at this point] I was amazed at these stairs. It was pretty high up in the mountain and whoever built these stairs, I got to give them credit. Must have been tough.

I finally arrived to the bottom and I saw people! So I did what any other person in my situation would do; join a random group of hikers.

That was the first set of random ahjushis and ahjumas I inserted myself into.

Second set of ahjushis and ahjumas.

These were crazy stairs. They were about 250 steps!!! But getting to the top with worth it. I found two other people from my group that got lost! lol 한벌 and 병석, we traveled together from then on.

It turned out that getting lost was great. I met 2 really nice guys from the church, got to go a different route then everyone else, and best of all, and I mean it with all my heart, best of all, we had EEL for lunch. 장어 is the best, especially in Gochang.

That was the best eel I every had, and quite possibly the best meal I ever had in Korea. Soooo gooooood!!!!

And that was the trip. It was good exercise (legs were crazy sore), good fellowship, GREAT food, and a good day overall. One of my bettter trips in Korea. And I didn't wear a dress to see the pretty flowers! =D

Bonus picture of the day, entitled, "This is Why I'm Gaining Weight." I never cook for myself and always order...

It's been alright here. Everything is a routine so that's good and bad. The same old for me. Well thanks for reading/checking up on my blog. BYE BYE!