I had a great trip to Korea; it was a lot of fun. The culture and people are very friendly and interesting. I had opportunity to visit many of the Royal Palaces (former, Korea is a democracy). Those I went to were; Changdeokgung, Gyeongbokgung, Deoksugung, and Gyeonghuigung, with Changdeokgung being my favorite. I saw the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung palace which was pretty interesting, too. Korean palaces seem to be better cared for than those in China. Of course, there are less people and I have decided the time to visit Asia is in the fall when the weather is not too hot and not too cold, but just right… plus there are usually less people.

Anyway, I went to the War Memorial Museum which was very interesting. It was mostly about the Korean War, but covered other conflicts too. One of my favorite experiences there was a trip to the saunas at a Korea bathhouse. It was very relaxing with many different rooms of varying temperatures ranging from one room around a 140f to another room at a subfreezing temperature. It was quite therapeutic.

I had a chance to visit the DMZ on a tour which was fascinating experience. It is very interesting to see a country, at least in that part of the country, prepared for an invasion. To see and hear of the totalitarianism of North Korea was surreal; again I’m grateful for my country and those that protect it. I highly recommend this for those to visit Korea.

The food was quite good, but you do need to know where to go and what to order otherwise it is less than tasty. On of my favorite things was trying different foods off the street vendors (dangerous I know). They create some very tasty snacks and some that aren’t, but hey it was only a buck or two. They have a corn dog with French fries inbeaded in the bread so you can eat your fries with your dog (so much more efficient). Well, that is about it. What a great trip, but word of advice; don’t go to a free fireworks show unless you are prepared to be crushed with a half million people….