A four-day tour

 Our team joined a tour company and traveled to various historical and cultural cities for four days. This was a very educational part of our trip and we saw many historical and social aspects of the country. 

  The biggest Buddhist temple in S. Korea. We were not allowed to take pictures of the actual buddahs, but below are some pictures of buddahs in the gift shop. 

Seeing the ocean: from coast to coast. 

this is Prof. Chang

Visited Korea's Prisoners of War (POW) museum. Very interesting stuff! Another fav. on the trip.

A very interesting museum to see. It definitely leaves an impact. For me, it gave me a deeper appreciation for what freedom really means.

This is "Philip," a tour guide in training. He shared his experience serving in the Korean army, which all men are required to do. He also told me about some of his friends' experiences in the military.

We also got an inside tour of the Hyundai ship-making industry. Their property looks like a garden of cars, instead of flowers. This was probably one of the coolest things we saw. I was not able to take pictures inside of the industry either, sorry. An interesting fact: they make about 100 ships/year. Crazy, right?

Folk Village

An over 600-year-old tree

 

Our Trip lasted for four days. We traveled by bus, sleeping in five star hotels and eating traditional Korean meals.One of our hotels had a Hot Spring on the roof. A Hot Spring is similar to a hot tub, but in a stream-looking form. After a day in the freezing cold, we were excited when our tour guide said that we could go in the hot springs. The minor detail he left out: hot springs are normally outside. After dinner and exploring the city, our team jumped into our swimwear, tightly wrapped ourselves in a towel, and ran quickly to the hot spring. We definitely had second thoughts before leaving the building and running outside to the hot spring, but we enjoyed it so much, later concluding that it was totally worth it.

One of the four resorts we stayed at. This hotel gives guests the opportunity to order a specific type of pillow and/or blanket for free. The guys took advantage of this, accidentally ordering pillows that were not fluffy at all.