Chuseok Holiday

This past weekend was Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving. Koreans travel from all over the country to meet with family, usually at the grandparents home. For us, it means we get a long four day weekend. We heard that most people in Seoul leave the city to go to family's homes so the city is far less crowded than usual. Also, there there are big names such as Van Gogh and Monet on exhibit at the Seoul Art Center this month. We decided to head out early (and by early I mean 5:40 am) Saturday morning to beat any holiday traffic there might be. Thank goodness i have the gift of being able to sleep anywhere and got a nice long nap in on the bus.

Our first stop was the art museum. It was so amazing to see paintings that I have admired for so long in person. Pictures truly do no justice to these pieces of artwork. 

 They have really tall ice cream cones in seoul (and hubs took the time to show me the "correct" way to point)

A short side note. Starting the Wednesday before we left I started not feeling well. This was the first time that I have been sick since we have arrived in Korea (pretty impressive I think). I took some aspirin before I went to sleep one night but I made one mistake. I took it on an empty stomach. If you've never done this before, I highly suggest against it. It feels like a mix between someone punching you in the stomach and feeling like you're going to vomit. Not the best scenario when you have to be upbeat and energetic teaching kids all day. Thankfully I only had to go one day of teaching before the weekend. I felt a little better before we headed out on Saturday so we decided to still go. As the day wore on, I felt worse. After talking with my mom and finding out that something as simple as an antacid would help me feel better we headed to the pharmacy. No medicine is sold in convenient stores or grocery stores here. You have to go to the pharmacy. We got a very small amount to last us on Saturday and didn't think anything else about it. The next day, Sunday, we went to the pharmacy to get some more medicine. Little did we know that all pharmacies in Seoul are closed on Sundays. Apparently Koreans have some secret to not getting sick on Sundays. Wish I knew it. All turned out well though. After a few hours we came across a popular indoor mall with an open pharmacy. The pharmacist inside probably wondered why we were so excited about getting an antacid.

We traveled south of the Han River which divides to city to the Bongeunsa Temple. It is over 1200 years old and the country's leading training centre for Buddhist monks specializing in zen meditation.

Twice a day monks perform a percussion ceremony on four instruments, each designed to awaken and save beings on the ground(drum), underwater(wooden fish), in the sky(cloud drum) and under the ground(gong). We were fortunate enough to arrive at the temple just in time to see the night ceremony. Once entering the temple, you could feel the silence begin to surround you. You didn't dare make a sound for fear of breaking the humbling silence. Even though we were alone walking the grounds, we still talked in hushed whispers.

This was in the pavilion of the dharma king. it houses 3,300 miniature statues of gwanseum bosal which glorify the essence of the buddhist spirit. 

We were also able to witness a buddhist ceremony for the chuseok holiday. it was held in the heart of the temple. sakyamuni buddha is in the center with amitabha buddha and the medicine buddha on either side. 

There are two main theme parks in Korea, one, Everland, being significantly larger than the other, Lotteworld. We figured that if there is only one substantial park in the country you're in, you have to check it out at least once. During the Chuseok holiday there is a big discount for foreigners since all Koreans are typically with their families that morning. Another plus about going during Chuseok...no lines. we were told the average wait for T-Express is a few hours long, we waiting 30 minutes.

The main square and view of t-express roller coaster, the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world at 77 degrees.

Posing with the theme parks featured characters all dressed up in hanboks (Korea's traditional wear).

After leaving Everland we caught the first bus back to Geoje. As nice as it is to explore the island that we live on, sometimes it's nice to be able to have a little city getaway.

Tanah Lot-Bali

We rented boats to take us out for a sunrise boat ride on our last day.

It was the perfect view of Agung Volcano

Our second hotel that we stayed at with a full breakfast served in the alcove to the left. It was a scuba diver's paradise with full service scuba training center and just a short walk to the beach for a dive.

Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the balinese sea gods.

The Tanah Lot Temple was built and has been a part of balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast.

At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. A giant snake supposedly protects the temple, which was created from Nirartha’s scarf when he established the island.

At high tide you cannot see the strip of land connecting it to the mainland. It looks as though it is sitting in the middle of the water. 

 Pura Batu Balong, another temple in the same area. both temples are within eyesight of each other.

The Playboy Club Party at Vanquish!

Sometimes girls just want to have fun at The Playboy Club or at least a pop-up venue created to celebrate the launch of the new TV show on NBC. On Wednesday, some of Atlanta’s insiders turned out at the newly opened Vanquish Night Club to rub elbows with others paying homage to the golden age of the infamous 1960’s Chicago club.

The private event was presented by Rolling OUT gifting arriving guests with keys to the sexy night spot along with sample cocktails from Grey Goose Vodka or a simple glass of cranberry juice for those of us who are non-drinkers. There were also Playboy bunnies on hand to mingle and pose for pictures. But the best part of the evening… the atmosphere offered a perfect backdrop with a safari-theme allowing guests to relax and enjoy the music with their friends creating a seductive night to remember.

“The Playboy Club” airs September 19th on NBC… it’s going to be HAUTE!

Will you tune into "The Playboy Club?"

The Mother Temple of Bali

Over a thousand years old, Besakih temple is known as the "Mother Temple of Bali". Perched on the slopes of mount agung, at 1,000 metres (3,000 feet). besakih is the biggest and holiest of all the balinese temples. Named after the dragon god believed to inhabit the mountain, it's said to be the only temple where a hindu of any caste can worship.

The only original wall of the templeLake Batur. As the mountain grows through frequent, minor or not so minor eruptions, it gradually enlarges its base at the expense of the lake, which is slowly shrinking in consequence.

You can still see the lava flows that go right into the lake and the small roads that were carved out in the lava flow.

Temples Temples and More Temples

It was another full day. We started out with the driver at 11 am, after the boys had a chance to go scuba diving that morning.  

Our first stop was Kurtagosa, the former royal courts of justice in the town of Klung Kun. Kertagosa was the end of the line of the law system for serious crimes at that time in Bali. Criminals facing trial were kept in a building where the ceiling held gruesome murals depicting good vs evil and what happened to sinners.

 Some of the scenes depicting what might happen to the "sinners"

 Good to know

We met a group of boys that were hanging out inside the site. One boy was not shy about sharing his chocolate crepe with Jeremy.

After finishing at the palace we walked across the street to a market, which I doubt many westerners go to. We were met with gawking locals as we searched through the bolts of traditional indonesian batik fabric.

Our next stop was Goa Lawah bat cave. legend has it that the cave goes all the way to the mother temple, some 70km away. No one knows for sure if this is true because no one has ever been that deep into the cave. This is because the legend also says there is a large vicious dragon guarding the inside of the cave.

The temple at the entrance of the cave. If you were really wealthy, this is where you paid to have your funeral. Inside you could see bats covering every inch of the walls. It didn't smell the best.

When driving in the country side it is common to see students of the nearby schools marching. We were told that they did this on a regular basis. 

We arrived at our hotel on the north side of the island in Tulamben just before night fall. It is a tiny town in the middle of no where that has only a few restaurants on it’s ½ mile main road. It was exactly what we were looking for. Seclusion. We ate at one of the 3 local restaurants and for a main dish, appetizer and drinks for both of us it came out to about $12usd. Something I could definitely get used to. Another thing I loved about the city and being in the middle of no where were all the stars. With so much light pollution in Geoje, it’s a rarity to have such a clear sky that you can see the milky way.  

On the way to the hotel we passed one of the many lava flows that lead into the ocean from Mt. Agung volcano