Beijing.

Okay, so I am logging off now -- but I know that you want to see Beijing and well, I am not one to disappoint my readers! Yesterday we headed over to Tian'an Men Square and joined thousands of our fellow Chinese tourists to see the square and the Olympic celebration.

(Side note -- I have absolutely no idea what I am doing at the beginning of this video! Looking really air-headed and "la la la" is our best guess. Too funny!)

Also you can see from this video that yesterday the smog was under control. This video was taken about 5:00 in the evening so the lighting is a bit off.

More Gyeongbuk Palace Sights!

So we've gone from carvings to paintings! I was totally unfamiliar with Korean architecture. The Koreans have been heavily influenced (in good ways and bad) by the Japanese and the Chinese. This influence shows itself in strange places. I was in love with the colour of Korea. I also really like how simple the palace was (in terms of the carved wood) and yet how bold it became with the paint.

This is the throne and throne hall.

Rice paper is used everywhere in traditional housing. Its part of the "windows" the walls and even the floors. Its effect makes everything look dainty, but cool.

Water is also very important in the palace. There are many "floating" pavilions which were used for eating and entertaining!

More water and a pavilion. Whats so great about this picture is that as I am looking at Jason and the palace and the mountains -- Jason is essentially looking at the skyline of downtown Seoul rising above the walls of the palace!

Gyeongbuk Palace (Seoul)

Gyeongbuk Palace was the official residence of the Chosun dynasty in Korea. The best part about the palace is that it is in the centre of downtown Seoul. You can ride the metro to the palace, walk through air conditioning, and the voila -- a huge palace in the middle of the city!

The day we visited we arrived just in time to catch the changing of the guard ceremony. Though not quite like Buckingham Palace, there is a strict pattern and well, you just can't beat the colours!

(One funny side note -- the guards are wearing fake beards and mustaches. Hilarious! We decided it was because 15th century facial hair is no longer en vogue!)

The ceremony! (Apparently my umbrella is in the way!)

Korea Cuisine

Korean food is delicious. No question. But having come from a number of countries with similar food, spice and cooking style -- we were used to a familiarity with menus. Not in Korea. :) Jason has eaten at Korean restaurants before, but I never had. And so our adventure began.

Koreans eat everything with a flat spoon and chopsticks. The fork is there as a nod to Westerners!

Korean food also always comes with a number of side dishes. In this picture is seaweed soup (warmish) (1), kimchi (or gimchi) (2) and hot sauce (3). This is a mini-version of what we normally served. Add to this a cross between Waldorf salad and coleslaw (4) as well as sesame noodles (5), a spicy green (like kale or bok choi) (6) and a spicy beef side (7) and you have the standard accompaniments to any Korean dish you order.

A note on kimchi. I thought it was good. Spicy. Like nothing I had ever tasted or even heard that it tasted like. The only draw back for me was that its pickled with vinegar. I don't like pickles or any pickled food, so I could only eat a small amount of kimchi at a time. Jason, on the other hand, who loves all pickled foods, thought it was very good.

But back to my lunch. This is a cold rice bowl, with mushrooms, shrimp, courgettes, carrots, and squid. You are supposed to mix the hot sauce with everything in the bowl and enjoy! The soup and kimchi are your sides.

I ate this dish a lot! It was delicious and I noticed that the only variation to it was sometimes it was served with a fried egg on top. Even better!

Greetings from Seoul!

Greetings from Seoul!! This is a quick video from our hotel room when we checked in this morning!

We love how San Francisco-esque Seoul is -- the hills, the fog -- it so reminds us of home!

Our first stop! (Seoul)

A market -- of course!

Namdaemun market is a local market. I thought it would be filled with Korean crafts, but instead it was where the locals shop -- for anything! From food to housewares to clothing -- the market had it all!

A street scene from the entrance to the market!

Cheesy Meghan -- I know. But I love street markets!

I love the subway! (Seoul)

One of the really interesting things about Seoul, is that South Korea is in the process of romanising their alphabet. Practically what this means, is that all signs (everything) is written in characters. There are some English translations of names and places, and we have a good map, but you don't quite realise (or at least I never did) how much you rely on roman lettering!

Regardless, we are having a great time getting around on our own and using the subway! Its a bit like the Tube, only there are many more lines that go farther out to the suburbs. As far as city travel goes though -- its fantastic!

We were trying to get the characters on the sign, but the flash slightly distorted the picture.

So here it is without the flash! Much better!

This is the wall of the station. The arrow points in the direction we are heading in, and Noksapyeong is the station we are at and the other stations on the sign are the station before this one and the station after.

Just because.

Doesn't Jason look nice and relaxed??

Mui Ne Flowers.

Because its my blog and I adore flowers. We spent a half an hour walking the grounds of the resort photographing flowers. The resort gardeners are awesome to say the least!

Dragon Fruit. (Vietnam)

Dragon fruit is a local fruit. Its pink on the outside and white on the inside with thousands of tiny black seeds. We liked dragon fruit -- its actually a bit bland given how cool it looks, but its very good. I noticed when we were driving to Mui Ne there were these trees all over the landscape. I couldn't figure what was growing until we stumbled across one of the plants at the hotel. Its the coolest plant. The fruit grows in the strangest way so I have to take a few pictures!
See the fruit at the end of the branches?

Unripe fruit -- still green.

Ripening fruit. Its much pinker than this when fully ripe, but you get the picture!

We've been quiet. (Mui Ne)

I've been quiet because well, for a week our lives were fairly quiet. We were in a mini-paradise. It was lovely, and we enjoyed considerable pool time, good food and lazy days. This was our room.

This was our pool.

This was our deck, pool and view.

The resort.

The main pool at the resort.

See why we were quiet??? :)

Sampan Cruising.

Our trip through the Delta took many forms -- a motor long boat, a horse drawn cart, walking, and the best of all -- a sampan ride. The sampans are mostly run by women, which I loved! So, we are ready here to hop aboard.

A view from the front. I have to confess. This was my view. The woman driver was kind enough to lend me her hat, and so consequently all Jason saw was the side view and unfortunately the back of my head! Oppsie!

Jason's view! (Jason wants me to tell you he actually loved the view (or me really), so the view wasn't all that bad!)

A view for you! From the front of the boat -- of course!

A view from the top!

The Mekong Delta is filled with man-made canals for irrigation. We are crossing a bridge over one of the canals, and Ang was kind enough to take our photo! Don't worry -- our ponchos are actually keeping us quite dry -- its only our heads that were soaked!

Sweet and Spice.

Our first stop -- a coconut candy making factory. While this may not be incredibly interesting to most, I was thrilled to visit the "factory". Every year at Christmas my Dad, Monica and I make cookies and candy. We are particularly fond of making salt water taffy, mostly because it is fun to pull and shape the taffy. Which is exactly what these women were doing! Instantly I thought of Christmas!

That was the sweet. Now for the spice. This is fermented rice wine. And yes. Those are snakes. Cobras, actually. Always ready to volunteer Jason for anything odd or disgusting -- I peer pressured Jason into drinking it. And he did. See below for how good it tasted!

With Jason is Ang, our guide. Who politely told Jason when I was out of ear shot, that the snake wine increases old men's virility -- i.e. rural, Vietnamese Viagra!

The Mekong River Delta

In the Mekong River Delta area, locals still live on the islands, grow their own food and of course rice, and generally live a much slower way of life. What's surprising is that this area is only a couple of hours from downtown Saigon. Needing a break from the city, we were game to explore this area. One downfall, it rained the entire day. Its okay though because the rain was warm, and we were pleased to be exploring new areas!

So, wearing ponchos, we boarded a long boat and set off!

Presidential View!

We are now standing on the balcony of the Presidential Palace. Looking back at the gates where the Soviet Army stormed the Palace. I am guessing this is also where the President gave addresses to the nation. Its just a guess though -- but I think it makes sense!

The President's Office

It could be that it was 1975, or that it was South Vietnam. Either way, this is a shocking Presidential Office. I am thinking of the Oval Office or 10 Downing Street, but somehow I am not thinking of this office!

Jason, Meghan and little boy. (Saigon)

Reunification Hall fka The South Vietnamese Presidential Palace. Possibly the largest tourist attraction in Saigon. The palace remains in the exact condition as it was in 1975 when it was stormed by the Soviet army. (You may not know this, but Vietnam is technically a communist country today.) We are standing in the courtyard to the palace very near to where the Soviet tanks broke through the gates to the palace.

Notice the new addition to my photos? In what must have been the sweetest encounter ever, the little boy in the photos was game to test his English skills on Jason and I. However, he was horribly shy -- so we would get drive by hellos, how are yous, and generally lovely smiles. Finally after having a new friend for quite some time, we asked to take his photo and he agreed. So someone new in the blog!

Saigon Sights -- Quick and Dirty.

As far as tourist sights go, there aren't many in Saigon. Its a very interesting city, but given the wars, its relatively new and lacking in historical sights. The French colonial architecture is prevalent and constitutes the majority of Saigon sights.

City Hall. Classic French style. You don't actually go in the building, so this is purely an architectural sight. It was once the French colonial headquarters at the turn of the 20th century.

Ho Chi Minh. This statue is outside of City Hall in a square in the center of the city. Ho Chi Minh liked to be known as Uncle to the locals. Thus in this statue he is playing with little children. The square is also excellent for scooter/traffic watching as it can get hairy on the roads around the square.

Saigon Notre Dame Basilica. This is a Catholic cathedral in downtown Saigon, constructed between 1863-1880 -- during the French colonial occupation. The statue out front is of Saint Mary.

The colonial post office. Still a post office today, it speaks to the lack of tourist sights in Saigon as it was packed with tourists. I mean really, its an impressive building, there are gift shops and of course, its a post office -- but who really flies half way around the world to see a post office??? Oh yeah, we did. Silly Jason and Meghan.

(Actually it was really pretty and I imagine exactly how it was when the Frech built it -- minus the gift shops.)