July 7th:
I got to go to Seoul, South Korea!!! Our plane to New Zealand stopped in Korea so I got to visit another country! Natalie, Abi, and I decided to go outside the airport and head to the beach, while the rest of the team remained to look around this famous airport.
And yes, it was a green tea roll.....but it was yummy!
The girl with the backpack........
Beginning our 2 hour adventure, we knew no words in Korean at all!!! While still in the airport I looked up 'thank you' which is 'gam sam ni daad'. That should be good enough, right? =) We managed to find a destination, change over money, find a bus, get on a bus (that's comical!!! They don't even stop, mostly just slow so that you are walking beside it to get on), get to the beach, explore and take pictures, buy some water/snacks, get back on the bus, get back into the airport, wash off our sandy feet, and get back through security/customs all in about 2 hours! =)
Our first shock was the bus system. We thought that the bus would slow and stop. Little did we know we had to run to catch it! =) After seeing the first bus whiz by and watch a local catch it, we were prepared for the next bus. Now that we were on the bus, we had to be constantly on the lookout for our stop!
Waiting for the bus
We didn't know how long the bus ride was going to take, or where it was since the signs were mostly in Korean! Thankfully we did get off at the correct stop. At the bus stop we were like, "Okay.....which way to the beach? Well that road goes down hill....let's take that one!"
Venturing down the road to the beach
Walking down to the beach we were so proud of ourselves! We had found the beach! It was incredible and STINKY! Though the sun was shining and bright, the beach was super foggy. There were at ton of people all over the beach! It almost looked like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean with everyone in the fog. The tide was really far out so we walked probably 3/4 of a mile to get to the water. The sand stunk so bad!!! I found a really pretty conch shell and tried to rinse it, but to no avail. I wanted to get it back to America but I only had my purse to get back inside the airport. No way was I going to put the stinky thing in my bag unhindered! So we bought a bottle of water and a few snacks so that I could get a plastic bag to tie it in. After taking a few pictures, we headed back to the bus stop and to the airport. Going through security was really simple since we didn't have hardly any personal belongings.
Once back inside the airport we had about 1.5 hours until our flight so we got to look around a bit. There was a cultural arts history center. I was looking for a smoothie place and all the sudden saw this royal looking family surrounded by 4 guards walking down the center of the hallway. "Oh, cool!!! Royalty!" I thought as I whipped out my phone to take pictures. Next thing I realize, "Oh my goodness!!! Those guards have sword/spear/knife things! Wait a minute....how did they get through security with those?!?!?!?!?!?" Unbeknownst to me, the cultural arts history museum was putting on a 'parade' of an ancient royal family and you could get your picture talking with them. =)
So I'm hoping those swords are fake! =) In one section of the airport there was an upstairs 'rest' area. I have no idea how it was quiet since it was all open air and the downstairs was not quiet, but it was so silent up there! They had chairs that laid back so it made like a bed so people could sleep, places for you to charge your electronics, kung fu massage (not sure that sounds fun), free massage electronic chairs, art museums with soft music, food, and much more. It was incredible and very relaxing!!!!
There was also this small orchestra band downstairs that was playing beautiful music. We stayed for about 20 minutes and would've stayed much longer since it was so beautiful, but our plane was boarding so we had to leave.We were headed down under to New Zealand!
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