Miladventures: August 2009

As promised here are the pictures and video's that we took in Seoul. This is only a fraction of it and I hope you enjoy them. I apologized, they were taken by an amateur.

I took this while we were inside the taxi on the way to the hotel.

JW Marriott, is very beautiful inside. I was so happy to be greeted in English. The service was impeccable, and free parking. Jesse and I will certainly return again in the future, Lord willing. Across is Seoul St. Mary's Hospital which branch my oncology hospital in Uijeongbu.

The view from our room is only 4th of what you can see of Seoul. The buildings and everything else is like that all around us. On the left of the window, it is hard to decipher but you can see a very light image of the tallest building in Seoul (it is 63 stories high). I always say "I'm going shopping" but never did, just looked.

This is 3 stories below the hotel.

It was a perfect day!

Sorry about that, my face is plastered on it but it is better video than the others that we took. We are inside the cable car with all Korean's. Can you understand anything they're saying?

View from the Seoul Tower

It was a beautiful Sunset.

It is lighted at night and with different colors, it was beautiful, then my camera's battery died.

Seoul. Soul of Asia, their slogan which I think it's pretty neat.

We got there last Sunday during rush hour, the drivers were insane, forget about traffic rules, they make their own rules. We took the subway from Uijeongbu to Seoul and then a cab to J.W. Marriott. Took about an hour. Jesse and I explored and had korean dish dinner at the many restaurants below the hotel.

Monday, was a cloudy day, I explored more of the high end stores underneath the hotel. Jesse came back early and we took off to Itaewon, one of many shopping districts close to Yongsan base. Didn't do much shopping. Tuesday, cloudy again, went for a workout at the hotel gym. I'm telling you, the Korean people are into fitness and the hotel has everything you need for a workout. I think they let you come and workout even though you are not a guest at the hotel, I'm sure there's a fee, you wonder why I know this, I rode the elevator with a woman maybe in her 60's, to the LL basement she came from outside and when she got to the reception area, they gave her a wristband, they didn't give me a wristband. I don't know I could be wrong and I didn't want to ask. For lunch I found a Vietnamese restaurant downstairs, hmmmmmm, I had seafood Pho, still better in Mesa, it needed a mint. In the evening Jesse had the company car, (SUV) we went for a Mexican dinner in Itaewon with one of Jesse's co-worker and their instructor. I tell you, it is nothing like home, what can I say. I couldn't identify what kind of red sauce it was.

Wednesday, was a clear and beautiful day, There was so much to explore downstairs, unbelievable. I found all these food chain stores we have at home. Mcd's, KFC, Krispy Kreme, Outback, Baskin Robbins, Pizza hut, Coffee Beanery and I'm sure there were others that I didn't see, that's only a fraction because there were other restaurants too. Korean, Japanese, Italian and so forth. For lunch, I really wanted McDonald's french fries, so I cave in, instead of hamburger, they have Bolgogi burger, fries, and soda, can't beat that for 3.00 Korean Won. There's 2 subway stations with open market kind of shopping in them, there's clothes, shoes, and anything you might need on your way home. There's 2 bus stations right next door. Shinshegae, a high end department store next door is 9 stories high. From Tiffany's to Nike and so many others, and it has a grocery store at the bottom, it's unbelievable. There's also the Apple computer store who were very nice to me. I forgot to bring my itouch ipod charger from Uijeongbu and they let me charge it there and since I brought my computer with me they let me check my e-mail too all for free. Don't worry Starbucks was next door, so I bought her coffee. Even though Jesse had the car, we took the subway to Seoul Tower. Ever since I first saw it over a month ago when I first came to Seoul, I've been wanting to go and see it. I was told that you can see the whole city, since the tower is on top of a mountain. Sure enough, you can. Imagine, Seoul has 10+ million people. My pictures doesn't do justice. The tower has a revolving restaurant, just like the one in Ala Moana Shopping center in Honolulu. No, Jesse and I didn't eat there, I found out you have to make reservations 2 weeks in advance. I was told go in the evening because the tower light changes and it does, and they also have a laser show. As you can see, Jesse and I took the easy way up, by cable car. You can also hike it if you want. Not me......

Thursday, I went to Itaewon by myself, I needed to prove to myself that I can use the Subway just in case I come to Seoul by myself. It took me a while since the directions are in Korean and some English but there's also arrows that you can follow. I had lunch there at an Indian Restaurant, I thought of my friend Shelly back home. The food was good, enjoyed the nan bread. For dinner we went to the Base for their seafood buffet, we almost got disappointed because they recommend reservations and we didn't have any and there were 2 ladies ahead of us and they told us, they've been waiting a while. I asked them, if they didn't mind, we could share a table with them and not long after that, there was a table and it was a wonderful evening. They came from another base (Humpreys) they came to Yongsan for their pre-natal check-up. Both their first babies and one of them is having twins. One lady is from Florida and other from Vegas. Jesse is so sweet he took care of their bill and it is one way to give back to our military families who are away from home.

Friday, I came home on the bus. I didn't want to wait all day for Jesse and he was driving home with his co-worker. I left all our luggage for him to bring home. Half hour after I came home it started to pour. Rain. Ughhhhh. It is so hot and humid here while it was nice in Seoul. But, I am glad I'm back in my own bed and my own surroundings. In the afternoon, my friend Meook took me to her Acupuncturist (is that a word) what an experience. Well, my hands has been hurting more that ever before. Not only my hands but also all my joints all the way to my toes, I've read all the patient reports on webmd.com so I know it is from the cancer medicine and when I couldn't use my thumbs, that was the last straw. I told Jesse I don't want to take the medicine anymore, I'd rather have quality of life not quantity and I finally called my oncologist back home and told them what was happening and he said to stop the medicine. I am glad my doctor said to stop and it's been about 2 weeks but my hands are still hurting and I've been using hand brace to keep it in place. I thought I will try acupuncture and see if it helps, its only been once, so I don't know if its going to work. I will surely keep you all posted. In life, if you don't have your health, you have nothing. Most of you know how I hate needles and to go and try acupuncture is beyond me. I just want to be able to walk up the steps and to be able hold something without any excruciating pain. If I was given the choice between this kind of pain over chemo. I choose chemo because it goes away in a week. Little pain I can do, excruciating and debilitating, no way.

I am posting pictures later...... to be continued.