Visitors From Calgary

This post is a little past due but I thought better late than never! So on April 31st Dustin and Ashley flew to Seoul after their two week holiday in Vietnam. They took the train to Gimpo airport from Incheon Airport to meet me. After a teary reunion (or there were no tears) we got on the subway and headed to our hotel. Of course I booked a hotel I had never been too so we spend quite a long time looking for the hotel. Then "eagle eyes" Ashley found the tiny sign for the hotel. We got cleaned up and headed out on the town. We of course went to the usual spots Namdaemun market, Myeongdong district, and we lunched on ramen and gimbap. That night we had bbq and soju so it was an early night!

The next day we woke up we went to the Changgyeonggung palace. The palace is really beautiful and they had a beautiful pond full of Mandarin ducks, which Dustin and Ashley fed peanuts too.
That afternoon we ate bipimbap for lunch and then walked around Insandong looking at all the art shops there. Once Dennis arrived to Seoul we headed out for dinner and drinks. We were all starving so we headed out to a burger joint in Gangnam. After filling up on burgers we headed to the Big Rock pub. Both Ashley and Dustin wanted to see it to believe it. They enjoyed looking at all the Calgary mementos on the wall. We got a huge tower of Traditional and caught up, we even had a chance to talk to the manager of the bar.

The next morning Ashley, Dustin, and Dennis went to the DMZ and I got to sleep in. I know they were all tired because we had been out late the night before. I slept in, ate breakfast at the hotel, and went for a 16km run at the gym (it was brutal). After my run I went out to an area of Seoul I had never been to. It is called Garosugil and it was a really funky and young part of town. It was a street full of cool shops and little bistros. The gang got back to the hotel at about 5 and we headed out for dinner once everyone was cleaned up. We ate a delicious pork bbq and then tried to find a good bar to go to. it was very strange because it was Saturday night and all the bars were empty! Dennis and Dustin asked the bartenders where was a good place to go. They wrote a note and told us to just give it to the cab driver, which we did and he took us to Itaewon. There were a ton of foreigners out on the streets and we found a great club to hang out at. After some shwarma we headed back to the hotel.

The next day we spent a bit more time wandering around Seoul then headed back to Ulsan later in the afternoon. On Monday to recover from the crazy weekend we slept in and then went to Old Downtown for lunch. In the afternoon we hit up one of the 12 scenic areas of Ulsan, Ganjeolgot point. This is the place where the sun rises first on the Asian continent. That night Ashley came with me to my going away party that my wonderful friend Chloe put on for me. The dinner was a lot of fun and I felt really blessed to have met so many amazing ladies here.


The following day we decided to hit the road and go to Busan. We drove past Haeundae beach and on to Yongungsa Temple. It is the only temple in Korea that is one the water. It was so beautiful and is now my favourite temple I have seen in Korea.

We headed back to Ulsan so we could have dinner with Dennis. That night Dennis and I surprised Ashley and Dustin with a cake for their birthdays, as Ashleys had just passed and Dustin's was the following weekend.

On Wednesday we decided to head to Gyeongju for the day. It was a beautiful clear day so we headed to the Seokguram grotto where you can get a great view of Gyeongju city. Ashley and Dustin took a turn ringing the gong. After the grotto we went to Bulguksa temple. Now if you have been following this blog you will know that I have been to this temple a staggering 5 times! So I let Dustin and Ashley tour around on their own while I waited for them. We then toured into the city to take a look at the lake and then we headed back to Ulsan. We ate a quick dinner with Dennis and then we all headed off to watch the Ulsan Tigers soccer game.

Ashley and Dustin's final day was very rainy so we decided to have a lazy day. We walked downtown to have some lunch and coffee. I showed them a few of the sights downtown and then we headed back home. Since it was their last night we decided to go out and party on the town. We took them to our favourite bbq restaurant and then we went to a local bar for more beer and soju.

It was bitter sweet to say goodbye to our great friends but we knew we would be seeing them shortly in Canada. They were our last guests we were to have here so it is now time to go home to Canada. We have been reflecting on how lucky we are that so many traveled all this way to come visit us! We truly feel blessed so here is a shout out to all our visitors
Mike Kellow
Chris Gorman
Patricia Gorman
Kieran Gorman
Fiona McLean
Taylor Carson
Miriam Myers
Mary Cheriton
Lorna Cheriton
Alana Phillips
Dustin Large and
Ashley Trevelyan

Thanks to everyone that came, it means the world and you made this year extra special.

xoxo,
J