Gyeongbokgung Palace & Bukchon Hanok Village

This area may be one of my favorites in Seoul.  Other than these two must-sees, there are so many other neat areas near by, such as Insadong's pedestrian street full of handcrafted Korean gifts, Jogyesa Temple, and Cheonggyecheon Stream.  It's worth it to plan your outing around the palace changing of the guard ceremony, which occurs every day at 11am and 1pm.  Since the boys were out of school for an American holiday, we could avoid the local and weekend crowds.  Plus, now that Mariam is in school, these adventures simply seem less challenging.  However, we still missed you sweet girl!

Bukchon Hanok Village is just one subway stop from the palace and offers a peek into ancient Seoul.  People still live in many of the hundreds of traditional homes and others have been turned into museums and tea houses.  In one of the art centers, the boys each painted a lotus flower, which can be seen on many ancient temples, palaces, and homes.  The lotus flower is a strong symbol in the Buddhist religion, which represents purity of the heart and mind.  If you have seen this flower grow and then close under muddy water only to beautiful bloom again at dawn, you can see why many cultures have found symbolism in the lotus.

PyeongChang

In case you haven't heard, the Winter Olympics are coming to South Korea in 2018!  We decided to check out one of the resorts, Phoenix Park PyeongChang, that will be hosting the games.  After a two hour drive from Seoul, we all began with a half day of sledding.  The boys and Jamil spent the next day on skis and then woke up before the crowds to squeeze in another half day on skis before driving home.  Abraham ended his first day with a dramatic rescue from the ski patrol.  After a collision at the end of a tired day, he simply could not...would not get up.  He was diagnosed with a contusion; that's fancy for bruise.  Jamil was determined to get him back on the slopes the following day to boost his confidence.  Gabriel got out the second day and even used poles, and Abraham had his best day of skiing yet!  Mariam and I enjoyed more sledding and playing in the snow!

Sokcho & Seoraksan National Park

Our first road trip in Korea was to Sokcho and Seoraksan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage sight that is located on the far north-east side of Korea.  There are two Buddhist temples that are cultural landmarks within the park, a large Buddha statue, a gondola leading to breath taking views, waterfalls, and many other forms of natural beauty.  I have heard that the fall foliage is a remarkable sight during the Seorak Cultural Festival in October.

We spent two nights in the city of Sokcho, which is one of the many cities that share the national park.  Upon our arrival, we went straight to the national park for hiking and quickly realized that the locals don't kid around when it come to their love of hiking gear.  We must have looked like complete amateurs, but we made up for it with our Deuter baby backpack.  On the second day, we continued to explore the park in the morning, and in the afternoon we relaxed on the beach by the Abai Village, home to North Korean expatriates who enjoy sharing their traditional cuisine.  In the early evening we took a hand drawn ferry, called a Gaetbae, across the canal to cook our own Korean seafood BBQ and enjoy ice-cream near the fish market.  What a lovely weekend!