Cheap Produce
While Teresa and I are now permanently back in the US (sigh), my commitment to making sure that people do not overpay for their produce remains! For the benefit of those living in Songdo or Incheon I provide this info on produce markets at which one can buy fruit and vegetables at much lower prices…
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Special Series: Farewell Posts: Jazz at the Tokyo Blue Note
Spring 2024 was our last season in Korea. We made a number of trips, but were so busy we lacked the time to post about them. Now back permanently in the US, we post about these trips to preserve our memories of them and, we hope, for your pleasure. Written some time after the trip…
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Special Series: Farewell Trips: Mongolia
Spring 2024 was our last season in Korea. We made a number of trips, but were so busy we lacked the time to post about them. Now back permanently in the US, we post about these trips to preserve our memories of them and, we hope, for your pleasure. Written some time after the trip…
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Special Series: Farewell Trips: Jeju Island (Again)
Spring 2024 was our last season in Korea. We made a number of trips, but were so busy we lacked the time to post about them. Now back permanently in the US, we post about these trips to preserve our memories of them and, we hope, for your pleasure. Written some time after the trip…
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When Travel Breaks You — Sapporo and Tokyo
Readers of Adventures in Korea may think that our travels are always happy. They would be correct, until this trip to Japan, which did, at least, end better than it began. We were supposed to visit three places: Sapporo, for its ice festival, Niseko, for a day of skiing, a return to Sapporo for another…
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Thailand Trip
In February of 2020, we had plans to go to Thailand. We canceled them because of that new virus–there were 12 cases at the time in Thailand–and we were not sure of the risks. Three and a half years later we finally made it. We went over the Chuseok holiday, which fell at the end…
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The Produce Sublime
One of my favorite short trips in Incheon is to its massive fruit and vegetable market. We go about every other week. For my final project in my Korean 201 course, we had to create a video about a favorite place in Korea, so the produce mart was my subject. The script for the video…
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Mokpo?
When we told Korean friends we were going to visit Mokpo for this spring break, almost every one of them asked us, “Mokpo? Why Mokpo?” We were a bit concerned. Apparently, Mokpo is not a big tourist destination, even for Koreans. Here’s why we picked Mokpo. Our theory of Mokpo, as it were. But how…
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Winter Wonderland in Japan
This winter break we traveled to Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, where winter is still winter. Robert got to enjoy some nostalgia by reliving his memories of winter in Chicago during the 1970s and 80s. Usually when we travel in Korea or Asia, we are exploring places far from home. But visiting Hokkaido pleasantly…
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Gapyeong—Nearby Vacation Land
For Chuseok this year we visited Gapyeong, a vacation area of mountains, rivers and lakes just outside of Seoul. It was a good place for a quick getaway. We visited two places, Nami Island and the Garden of Morning Calm. Nami Island is by far the more famous and more popular of these two places. …
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Bicycling from Incheon to Sokcho
Last year I traversed most of Korea from north to south by bike. This year I went from west to east. Last year’s ride was more miles. This year’s ride, from Incheon to Sokcho, a city on Korea’s east coast, was more hills–a lot more. My GPS device tells me I climbed 7,638 ft over…
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Yeosu: Sea, Islands, and Kindness
I have a new favorite place to visit in Korea. Yeosu, on Korea’s southern coast, has a beautiful seacoast dotted with islands, and a climate subtropical enough to grow palm trees. It is not unlike the very popular destination Jeju Island, but has more intriguing little islands and is less touristy, more a working fishing…
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We Make Kimchi
Kimchi is Korea’s most famous food. In November, it is traditional to make enough to last the entire year. We always wanted to see how kimchi was made, and thanks to an office colleague, this kimchi-making season we did. Our assistant manager in the Mason Korea’s executive office, Conny Kwak, invited us to her apartment,…
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Sokcho and Seoraksan Revisited
Sokcho and Seoraksan were our first Korea destination outside the Seoul metro area. Back then we decided one day we’d return to these places, and this Chuseok holiday we did. Why go back, when there are so many destinations in Korea we have not seen at all? Teresa, a Romanticist, is all about revisiting places:…
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Bicycling from Incheon to Busan
Korea has an amazing network of bike trails, including one that spans from Seoul in the northwest of the country to Busan, Korea’s second largest city, in the southeast. Someone told me about this trail system early on my arrival to Korea, and it was my goal to ride it since then. Something over two…
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A Trip to Jeonju
For this spring break and my birthday, Teresa and I visited the city of Jeonju, famous for its “Hanok Village” that features traditional Korean architecture. It’s a little French Quarter, a little Colonial Williamsburg, a little Disneyland. Readers of “Adventures in Korea” have come to expect only truth and integrity from this blog. We will…
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Korean Barbecue
Having exercised due diligence with regard to Korean fried chicken, we now turn to our reviews of some restaurants offering perhaps the most famous Korean cuisine, especially to non-Koreans, Korean barbecue. As they say, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. Musso (무쏘) [As of May 2021, the Musso location in Campus…
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Jeju in June
To celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, we traveled to Jeju, a volcanic island about 60 miles south of Korea, with a subtropical climate. Jeju is a popular tourist destination, with good reason. It is beautiful! So much so that we’ll dispense with a lot of narrative for this post, and turn instead to the photo…
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Staycation
Early May brings the “golden holidays”—a series of holidays close enough together to make nearly a week off during a lovely time of year. Last year, we traveled for this holiday. This year, because of the pandemic, we explored new sites closer to home. Our goal was to visit places that would not require any…
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Korean Chicken
Korea is justly famous for its barbecue. It is less well known for its amazing fried chicken, which is twice as crunchy as its American cousin and loaded with strong flavors. Teresa and I decided to go once weekly to at least one fried chicken restaurant—there are many in Korea, often chains—and compare our meals. …
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Kyoto
Our first trip to another Asian city outside of Korea was Kyoto. The city is close enough and airfare inexpensive enough that we could go to Japan for the weekend—as one does. Teresa’s parents visited many years ago and loved it. It’s a city of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, and quiet streets. It seemed…
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Broken Arm!
Teresa breaks her arm, and gets healthcare in a system that doesn’t seem broken. Speaking of breaks, “Adventures in Korea” took a break for the summer that extended farther in the fall than intended. We’re back now with an update about our biggest new experience in Korea–our encounter with its healthcare system. Our son David,…
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We Have Visitors
Friends from the US coming to visit gave us a perfect opportunity to travel to some new places and return to some of our favorites in Korea so far. The highlight of the trip, and a new place for us, was a visit to Chuncheon, a city about 120 miles east and a bit north…
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May, Mountains and Sea
Korea is 70 percent mountains, and it’s surrounded by seas. This May we visited both. For our first trip out of the Seoul area, we traveled about 4 hours to Seoraksan National Park (mountains) and the nearby city of Sokcho (sea), on the east coast of Korea. The mountains and the sea are less than…
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Spring Comes to Songdo
Spring comes to Songdo slowly, but surely. Everywhere else I have lived springs comes in fits and starts–up to 70 degrees on one day, back down to 35 the next. As I write this blog at the end of April, it just snowed in Chicago. Not in Songdo. A line charting the daily temperature here…
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Settling In
We wander around Songdo, learn how to use the subway, and visit Seoul. Our first taste of ordinary life in Korea–buying things for the apartment, eating out–was mostly centered around the Triple Street Mall. It’s called Triple Street because it goes on for three long blocks, with an underground portion and then two or three…
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First Days in Korea, A Photo Essay
We arrive; we eat; we eat some more; and meet some students
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