KOREA
Using Delta's Skymiles partner, Korean Airlines, to navigate Asia, gave us the opportunity to see my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Yi, whom I met when visiting Korea in the 1970's. Mr. Yi was an English teacher with my son JIm serving in the Peace Corps. My whole life I had wanted to visit Japan and when I saw Tokyo lighted up with millions of neon signs, I was so disappointed. From Japan we went to Korea and there I found the quiet landscape I had always visualized......little thatched roof villages looking like little mushroom caps amongst the rice fields. Seoul was a two story town with one modern six-story hotel. The rest of the country slept on the floor and I loved it!
DESTINATION #5: SEOUL
We had a nine-hour layover and Mr. and Mrs. Yi were at the beautiful new airport in Incheon to meet us with this wonderful welcoming sign. It was early in the morning and they had driven a long way from Taigu to meet us, leaving their home at 3 am. Their son Wangi (a baby when I first saw him) had arranged lunch for us at a beautiful traditional Korean restaurant in the old part of town.
Today Seoul looks like New York City with many bridges over the Han River and traffic rivaling Atlanta. When the Olympics were presented in Seoul in 1988, the country was no longer third-world. I am happy that I saw its traditional culture. Mr. and Mrs. Yi have visited me in Georgia, again giving me a gift, a hanbok, traditional Korean dress.
IA hard to find oasis on a tiny little street, this beautiful traditional restaurant served the most amazing lunch as you will see in the following pictures.
Mr. Yi said because we had so little time, it would be a light lunch, followed by well over 15 different dishes.....I lost count as they just kept coming: raw fish, cooked fish, beef, onions, cabbage, sea weed, duck, blue berries, pineapple, many soups, fried rice, special tea and on and on they came until the table was full, even though the waitress kept clearing. Each dish was a work of art and Bob was loving it showing how adept he was with chopsticks.
IAll too soon, we were again on the freeway, passing by the parliament building, flying through Seoul and over many bridges on the way to Incheon. From one of the bridges, we could see China in the distance.
As you can see by our cart, the Yi's loaded us down with gifts of genseng tea and an umbrella and begged us to come back and stay for a while.