Food and Fun!: Trip to South Korea

"Anyong-Haseyo!" ("Hello!", "How are you?", "Good morning/afternoon/evening!" in Korean ;-P)

I'm back! Well, technically, I've been back for a couple of weeks now, but I have not updated my blog in a while, sooo I'm back!

As the title says, I took a brief school trip to South Korea, and it was a great experience! The food, the culture, the people...everything was amazing. It wasn't as much of a culture shock for me since I grew up in the Philippines, but the huge discrepancy between the main city (Seoul) and it's surroundings was extremely surprising. Seoul is beautiful; it is highly developed and it well exudes the typical 'big' city life, such as that of Tokyo and New York City. We did visit a few businesses, like the KIA auto plant, Songdo City (High-tech, green-living city), and the Mapo Resource Recovery Plant. The latter was a plant that is basically a waste recovery (recycling) plant. One of the many things that amazed me was the discipline of the Koreans; imagine, they started separating their trash over 20 years ago! They are so forward-thinking - a trait that I truly admire and respect, and one that should be adopted by the Americans. The level of discipline within the South Koreans is quite typical due to their culture, and the U.S. can definitely learn a thing or two from them.

Aside from the business perspective, we also experienced the culture and the people of Korea through food, the city fashion and trends, and our day trip to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. I thoroughly enjoyed the food (if you go to S. Korea, check out Samwon Garden, the fish market, and eat some octopus! Live octopus! :-D), and I certainly did some shopping, but the highlight of my trip was our visit to North Korea. What a big difference the area was compared to the city; it was completely underdeveloped, and there was a level of tension in the air, one that was appropriate for 2 regions that are technically still at war. We got to see North Korea in person, and stepped into the meeting room where generals and officials of South and North Korea meet, so in actuality, I was in North Korea for about 1 minute ;-P.

All in all, the trip was one to remember. I'd visit again, but next time, with family. I hope you enjoy the pictures! :-)
Until next time...