10% tax will be added

So, for some reason my text keeps wanting to auto default to hyperlink. No clue. Really. I can't stop it. So, I'm starting here where all seems normal-ish. I'm back again, your weekly/monthly/wheneverly narrator of strange pictures from a foreign land. The above pictures are from an area known as Myeongdong. It is a shopping area and is virtually always filled with people, as depicted in the pictures above. We'd been there previously, but this trip was special.

We went there most recently to get Mel's eyes lasered. The procedure was a success and she appears to be healing nicely. The first few days were a bit trying, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We went to a nice gelato place in town and got a cup. Four flavors for like 5,000w. The price wasn't too bad and the gelato was good. That's Italian ice cream for the uninitiated. Most the flavors were decent, but the lemon was to die for. In fact, when we went back I just asked for all lemon! :D

This is a warning sign for the subway. I truly felt for


Our shower curtain has not taken well to the delightful Korean water. My use of "delightful" is quite sarcastic, as if you couldn't tell. We've ordered a new shower head with a filter from the states to combat the shitty water.

Following Mel's eye op we had a bbq in a local park.

That's the grill there. Pretty huge, ay? A song for 40,000w at the local Lottemart.



There were teeter-totters in the park! YAY!




The playground equipment was a joy, barring the fact that known of us were small enough to get down the slide without a degree of crunching pain.

Some of us like to show off.

Yay swings!
Here's a rolling barrel thing. It was a bit difficult to use.

Some how I missed the picture of Justin miserably falling off. :D

We eventually developed a crowd of Korean children. It took them a few hours, but they eventually worked up the nerve to join us in our fun. We taught them how to throw a football.

So, that was Saturday, the day after Mel's surgury. The after effects weren't really bad then, yet...

By Sunday, Mel's eyes were sensitive to any and all forms of light. I hung a blanket on the window to the outside, and we built her a fort. I'm told it was quite cosy. You can just see her knee there.
More fort.

I got it in my head recently to buy a pan for our toaster oven. I thought if I could get a decent sized cake pan that I could make casserole type dished. Well, the result was....

Spectacular! Here's a shot of my goulash-ish casserole with garlic bread. We are quite limited as to the things we can actually find to purchase, so we make do as best we can.

It really was delicious!

So, we had to go back to check up on Mel's eyes after 4 days. We had intended to stay in Seoul (which is quite close to Myeongdong) at that time since we were on vacation. We wanted to see some sights and spend a little time in the big city.

Unfortunately the weather had different ideas. It poured rain like crazy for the next couple days. We eventually settled on going in Seoul on Thurday, staying that night, and just coming home on Friday. Not a big trip, but enough time to see a few sights.

Our first stop was the crafts building in Damdaemun. This is a several storied building filled with crafty stuff. Mel wanted yarn and that was in the basement. Here's a few shots.


We had decided to stay in Myeongdong since he had done so previously and liked our hotel. The last time there (right after Mel's surgury) it was only 80,000w (like $60) for a room that would be like $200 in the States. This time we arrived to find out there was only one room left!! :O

This room was the 'premium' room. The biggest in the hotel!!! It was 132,000w for the night. I said WTF and we went for it. That's really only like $110 or something. Here's the result....





?A great room, yes? Pretty nice and cheaper than home, and the view?

To die for! ;)



Free robes! Neat!

So, that evening we decided to go to Namsan tower. It's this large tower up on a large hill in Seoul. The taxi spent about 15 minutes driving up said hill. It then dropped us off so we could walk up another (steeper) hill.


There are shots from the plateu before attempting the hill.


We found a carosel (minus all the fun bits) at the top of the hill.


The tower from its base.

We proceeded to buy our tickets to the top for 7,000w a person.
Then joined a crowd of people to wait our turn.

For like a half-hour. Then we got to get in line for the elevator and spend another half-hour in a non-air conditioned area while waiting.


The view wasn't really that exciting. There was dirty, grimy plexi-glass in the way. This wasn't like the Empire State Building where you get to be out there and really enjoy the fact that you're super high up.
This sign reminded us how far we are from home by showing us the exact distance *sigh*.


And there we are...

...right before we get in line to go back down. We then waited about 45 minutes to catch an elevator down. Overall, I'd say the tower was highly over-rated.

It was time to return to Myeongdong where our room was. It was also time for beerses.

This is the first bar we went to. It was called the Cave bar. It was pretty damned pricey. It was lit with this low blue light over our table. There were some drunken Koreans passing out in their booths. It seemed to be the type of establishment where you could buy drinks for the wait staff so that they would sit and talk to you.



The (only) high point of this bar was that I got this nice German beer at a price quite bit cheaper than I've found it anywhere else in Korean. That was a bit ironic due to the over-pricing of everything else on the menu.

We left after one drink to find a better bar. Their sister bar didn't seem much better. We settled on buying a couple beers at a Family Mart and heading back to the room.

Until we saw this place advertising world beers and featuring a Guiness sign.

It was pretty nice, and the prices weren't too bad. The owner was there and spent a bit talking to us (in English!!).

I had a whatever that says. It's actually the original Budwieser from the Chezch Republic. It's also a billion times better than American Bud. We had a few more beers and headed out.


Finally it was time to get up to our room.

And then I found this funny sign in the elevator. What's going on? I have no idea? No tripping each other? No jumping? I don't know, but don't make that elevator sad!

We had a super toilet in the hotel with a bidet and various butt cleansers. This was a breathe of fresh air (figuratively) when compared with my previous Korean toilet experiences. No drinking on the toilet. Don't shower with the toilet and please don't kick it.

I don't know what that turd is doing, but the bidet setting is happy for sure!

Oh yeah! We found a coffee table sitting next to the dumpster. We snagged it right quick!

We were home on Friday. Our Air Base friend offered to bring us on for some....

TACO BELL!! Woot! It's been like 7 months! It was delicious!

In case you thought it was a mock-up.

Last, but certainly not.... cliche. Our hotel has been conected to an Outback. We found this coupon in the bathroom and I brought it home to photograph and share. Notice that there is a 10% discount that can only be used by foreigners. Cool, right? Keep reading "10% tax will be added"......