The Ten Best Things To Do In Korea

For my 400th post, AKA my 400th waste of your time (40,000 of you over the last couple of years, amazingly!) I decided to write a list of my ten favorite things to do in Korea. Let's face it, Korea doesn't have that many famous sites and after a while things can get pretty stale unless you start looking for new things to do. For this list I decided to avoid things that most people would do anyway (like the numerous palaces and museums) and general things like "shopping in Myeongdong", "galbi", and "norebang". Some things that can be done in a day trip or are very similar have been combined. Maybe these things aren't your cup of tea, but I've been here for 2 years now and these are the things I've enjoyed the most :)

10. Incheon International Airport

One of the best things about living in Korea is that you can affordably fly to places that would be way too expensive to travel to from North America. Some of my best memories while teaching overseas have been the times I've been able to leave Korea! Plus, Incheon Airport is the most modern, organized and friendly airport I've ever used. It's super-accessible too: buses leave constantly from the airport to anywhere in the country, and the Seoul metro takes you from the airport to over 100 destinations across Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Plus, there's a Kraze Burger!

9. The DMZ
Maybe the DMZ, a narrow strip of land that separates North and South Korea, counts as an activity that a lot of people will do when they visit Korea, but I've included it on the list because it's a very interesting spot to visit. We went on the USO Tour and had a very informative guide. We got to visit a few of the offices around the DMZ, a museum, and we also went into a cave that had been dug by sneaky North Koreans who burrowed their way into the South. We heard a lot of interesting facts, posed with serious-looking South Korean guards and gazed over at the North's giant flag and menacing soldiers.

View my original post about the DMZ HERE.

8.Sokcho and SeoraksanSure, you can go to Busan and sit on the crowded Haeundae Beach if you want to go swimming in the summertime, but if you're looking to get out of the city and relax at a much quieter, but equally nice beach... try Sokcho.

The golden-sandy beach is the highlight of the trip, but there's lots of other quaint little things to do too. Sokcho has a tower, Sokcho Tower, which offers a nice view of the city and beach for less than 2,000 Won. The heart-shaped tree makes for a nice photo-op, plus there's a decent shopping street with cheap deals, and a cool gazebo and lively strip of restaurants to check out near the ferry terminal.

Not too far away is Seoraksan, Korea's favorite mountain. Not special enough to warrant its own trip, but fun enough to combine with a visit to Sokcho. There's many hiking trails to choose from, and since it was hot, we hiked to a waterfall where we swam for a while to cool off. There's a cable car too for an easy view of the park.

View my original post about Sokcho and Seoraksan HERE.

7. Caribbean Bay/Lotte World

Mel and I love a good theme park, and since I couldn't decide which one I like more I decided to recommend both Lotte World and Caribbean Bay. We've been to Lotte World 3 times and the rides are top-notch. Their Atlantis rollercoaster is the best ride I've been on outside of the Disney/Busch Garden parks. The line is always long for Atlantis, but the other rides (a flume, another rollercoaster, haunted house, some carnival-type rides and more) are never too bad. And if you like parades of dancing Russians, you're in the right place.

Many of the obvious Disney ripoff things have been removed in recent years, but when we first visited the park there were murals of Ariel and Sebastien from the Little Mermaid. The Magic Kingdom ripoff castle remains.

Caribbean Bay is a great water park located about 45 minutes from Gangnam by express bus. It's pretty expensive to visit now (like 60,000 Won for one day), but we had a lot of fun there a few years back outside of peak season. There a bunch of slides, a lazy river, a huge wave pool and some aromatherepy baths. The facilities are really clean and modern. Too bad you need to wear life jackets in the wave pool if you swim in water higher than your waist, and you'll be turned away from the water slides if you don't have a swim cap. And an employee might call you fat.

View my original post on Lotte World visit #1 HERE

View my original post on Lotte World visit #2 HERE

View my original post on Lotte World visit #3 HERE

View my original post on Caribbean Bay visit #1 HERE

View my original post on Caribbean Bay visit #2 HERE

6. Hangang Park

It's been a treat living so close to Hangang this past summer. This massive park stretches the length of the Han River, on both sides. Even over-populated Korea can't make this expansive space feel too crowded. We've spent many nights by the water relaxing in the grass with a book, enjoying the cityscape-view, or having a beer at one of the many 7-Elevens dotted along the park. The 7-Elevens even sell draft beer on-site for $3 a pint. Nice-uh! There's always Han River cruises to enjoy, swimming pools in the summer, a waterfall/music show several times a day at the Banpo Bridge area, swan ride rentals, the 63 Building is closeby (at the Yeoido park), and if you're lucky enough...

...you might even spot an ajumma with her pet chicken.

View original posts about Hangang HERE, HERE or HERE

5. Ostrich SafariDespite being in an extremely inaccessible and remote location and providing near-hostile customer service, how often do you have the opportunity to ride an ostrich? It's as strange as it sounds.

View my original post about the Ostrich Safari HERE.

4. Gyeongju and the Jasujeong Amethyst Cave

I really, really enjoyed our trip to Gyeongju. There's so many scenic little places to visit in a concentrated area: museums, parks, gardens, an ancient observatory, and all this is surrounded by tumulis (burial mounds). The tumulis make for a truly unique landscape that makes you feel like you are in a very different and historical place. There are nice parks built around the tumulis, and concerts nearby in the summer too. Plus, Gyeongju is a cheap city with nice love motels and good food to eat.
A short bus ride away from Gyeongju, and a recommended day trip, is the Jasujeong Amethyst Cave in Eonyang. The cave is fun to visit because of it's randomness! There's basically no amethyst left inside; instead it is full of random statues (one of Dokdo, the evolution of man, dinosaurs, ETs head), an ondol room, and shows (a Chinese family doing a contortionist act). If you want a good laugh, check this place out.

Read my original post about Gyeongju HERE

Read my original post about the Jasujeong Amethyst Cave HERE

3. Samcheok and the Haesindang Penis Park

First of all, Samcheok is a nice, quiet, quaint little town on Korea's east coast that is perfectly worth a visit all on it's own. The restaurants are good, the park is quite nice and the hotels are cheap. But the star of the show is about an hour down the road by bus: Haesindang, the Penis Park.

It's just an absolutely ridiculous place full of hundreds of statues of penises. Penis benches. Penis totem poles. Penis Zodiacs. A penis lighthouse. The park is right on the coast, directly by the water, so the location is beautiful as well. Don't forget to stop by the gift shop and pick up your very own penis totem pole or shot glass. We did.

View my original post on Samcheok and the Penis Park HERE.

2. Love Land and the Teddy Bear Museum

Okay, maybe you're starting to sense a trend here that is pointing out what kind of people we really are, but who doesn't enjoy a good sexy park? A few years ago, we went to Jeju Island. Jeju is really overrated, but it is worth a visit for a trip to Love Land and the Teddy Bear Museum.

As you can see, Love Land takes it one step farther than the Penis Park. There's a giant vagina that you can walk on. There's a gallery of penises like "the terminator", there's a museum of sex toys labeled in funny Konglish. There's a bike called "the tickler" and a gift shop with penis golf clubs. There's a car parked on a lawn that is constantly rocking up and down, with sex noises coming from it. The door handles to the men's and women's bathrooms are shaped like weiners and boobs, respectively. If this description hasn't resulted in you immediately booking tickets to Jeju Island, you're reading the wrong blog.

In something of a contrast to Love Land is the Teddy Bear Museum. It's just the cutest thing. In this museum, teddies re-create great moments in history. There's a teddy Mona Lisa, teddy Titanic (above), teddies at the Berlin Wall, first teddy on the moon... you get the idea. It's unique and a lot of fun.

View my original post on Love Land and the Teddy Bear Museum HERE

1. Jeonju and Maisan Provincial Park

Maybe it was the nice weather we were having. Maybe it was because we'd just had a disappointing visit to Incheon. I've never heard anyone else rave about this place, but I'll say it: I loved Jeonju.

We had an amazing (the best ever) love motel in Jeonju, with a hot tub right in our room next to our round bed. We spent a few hours at the historical and photogenic hanok village (above), which was full of cafes, little shops, and people going about their daily lives. We visited a fortress, a palace and went to a great little shopping street for supper.

But the real reason this place tops the list is because of Maisan Provincial Park. This park is actually in Jinju, about an hour away by bus. There's a cool temple with a bunch of statues (see the tiger, above) and music playing when you first arrive. Then, you follow the trail past a beautiful lake at the base of a mountain, where you can rent swan boats and buy some beer or snacks.

Keep following the trail to Tapsa Temple, maybe my favorite place in Korea. The temple is surronded by hundreds of thin piles of rocks that give the temple an interesting and mysterious atmophere. For as long as they've been there, the rocks have never fallen. When ice freezes around Tapsa in the winter it always freezes in the same shape as the rock piles. No one knows why.

You can keep on hiking, bang the ceremonial drum, or head back down the trail for some fresh barbeque at one of the many restaurants. I hope we have a chance to get back to Maisan before we leave Korea in the summer.

View my original post about Jeonju and Maisan Park HERE.

The Future Becomes Much More Clear

This week we:
-confirmed on our last working days in Korea (July 29th)
-decided on a little holiday in BC
-booked our Elvis-officiated Vegas wedding (August 6th)

The future is bright (and exciting!!!)

How To Get A Seat On The Subway

Picture it. You decide to go to north Seoul to do some sightseeing or shopping. Maybe you're heading to west Seoul to Ho Bar it up in Hongdae. These places are easily accessible thanks to Seoul's fantastic and efficient subway system. It's the best MRT I've ever used. But these trips take time... maybe 30 minutes or more, and when you get there you're going to be walking around a lot. You're not going to feel much like walking if you've stood on the subway the whole way to your destination. Also, a 30 minute trip can feel like 15 minutes if you're just sitting and reading or watching something on your ipod OR it can feel like an hour if you're just standing there. Mel and I have gotten pretty savvy (and maybe a little over-calculated) with getting seats on the subway so here are a few tips for you, fellow travelers:

Know where to wait:

It's my experience that the front of the train is usually less busy, especially on line 3, which we use the most. The rear cars might be full but the first couple of cars will often have a free seat or two, even at peak hours.

Don't wait in front of the cars that have the handicapped symbol on them. You will be getting on the train next to the seniors/handicapped seats and you shouldn't sit there. Don't get on one of the bike cars either- they don't have any seats at all.

Know who to wait with:

This is an ajumma. She is public enemy number one when it comes to getting a seat on the subway. You will never get to the chair before her (she'll throw you out of her way, if need be), plus you're an ass for taking her seat if you do get there first because- hey, she's an old lady. Never, ever wait in line for the subway with an ajumma. You can't win.

Know who to stand in front of:

This guy aint going anywhere

Okay, so the above tips didn't work because the train is just too busy. Don't stand in the middle of the car or against a wall- this is never going to get you a seat! You need to stand in front of a sitting person and hope to get their seat when they stand up. You need to choose this person carefully. If a University station is coming up soon, wait in front of a young adult. Chances are, that's where they're going. Avoid people who are reading, watching TV or sleeping- they probably won't move anytime soon. If you're a couple, stand in front of another couple or family, because they'll probably get off together and free up seats for both of you.

So, use these strategies and hopefully you will be enjoying a ride to Hongdae with your feet up, too! And by the way, you owe me a seat sometime if you see me on the subway. You'll know me- I'll be the one pouting like a baby because he's standing up. Happy travels!

Christmas In Malaysia

Back in August, Mel and I drew up a list of countries we'd be interested in visiting over our Christmas vacation. I believe there were about 20. We searched on Orbitz and priced every destination. Flights out of Korea are so expensive! We couldn't decide where to go, so we put the list away. A few days later, one of us read an article about an airline called AirAsia that was launching a new route out of Incheon and offering low promo rate flights to Malaysia. I couldn't even point the country out to you on a map, but we bought two tickets for less than 350,000 Won a piece round trip minutes after the sale opened up. Within a few hours the prices had doubled. For the first time in my life I felt like I'd gotten a good deal on airplane tickets.

With some domestic flights within Malaysia priced at less than $10 a piece we realized we could cover a good amount of ground over our 10-day holiday. For the next 4 months we daydreamed about our Malaysian vacation and our first stop, Langkawi.

Langkawi

The small island off the west coast of Malaysia was the first stop on our mini-tour of Malaysia. After work on the 23rd, we had a bit of time to eat and pack up and then we were off to Sinnonhyeon Station and its' excellent rapid train service to the airport via Gimpo. When we saw our plane we were so surprised at how close together the seats were! This really was a low-cost airline. Luckily, no one ever sat in the third seat in our row so we were able to lay down and get a little rest on our overnight flight. In all, the trip was about 6.5 hours. We landed in Kuala Lumpur and grabbed a coffee while we waited for our quick flight to Langkawi a few hours later. When I saw that Reeses peanut butter cups were for sale at the airport duty free shop I knew we were in a good place.

We took a cheap taxi from the airport to our resort, Green Village, in Pantai Tengah. We were greeted by absolutely no one at the front desk and waited around for a few minutes for someone to notice our arrival. We were taken through a pretty courtyard, past an attractive pool and shown to our shitty room. We sighed, took a nap and then wandered to the beach.

It was so, so nice. Seoul hasn't been too cold this winter, but it is consistently around 0 degrees or a little less. The air in Langkawi felt like a warm hug from the vacation gods. It was 30 degrees, and it stayed that way for our whole trip.

Shitty hotel room, just big enough for the bed and one suitcase. No TV channels and wi-fi internet that worked for about 3 minutes a day. We've stayed in way too many awesome love motels to put up with crap like this for more money.

Luckily, right across the road from our resort was a much nicer resort, right on the beach. This place, the Frangipani, became our daytime hotel for the rest of our stay. Everyday, we'd get some drinks or fresh fruit at the fruit stand next door and cross over to the Frangipani. We blended right in and nobody cared that we were there. The pool was amazing, the hot tub was even better, the view was breathtaking, and the whole place was quiet and conducive to afternoons of lazy reading and sleeping.

Mel relaxing at the Frangipani. We could never have afforded to stay here, but it was fun to pretend that we belonged.

The day after we arrived was Christmas Day. It was certainly different from any Christmas I'd ever experienced. We started the morning by brewing some coffee and opening presents while listening to Christmas music. Mel got me an alarm clock with wheels that makes a hideous noise when the alarm goes off and then drives itself off the nightstand. I love it. I got her a stuffed drumstick and a massage at a spa next to our resort. Then, we played skip bo, had a shitty free breakfast at our hotel and headed to the Frangipani to relax.

In the afternoon, Mel had her massage and then we went to a British pub called Debbie's Place where we had booked a table for Christmas dinner. We'd only paid about $20/each so we weren't expecting much. Since we'd already paid a deposit I half-expected to show up and find that the place was closed. Instead, my cynical ass was seated to a table with our names on it, Christmas crackers, a glass of wine and the above amazing turkey dinner. It was fantastic, right down to the slice of luncheon chicken and the brussel sprouts pushed to the side of the plate. I never thought we could get a traditional turkey dinner for our Langkawi Christmas, but this meal really made my night. We were given a geletin/cake/fruit dessert and another complimentary glass of wine before finding our way back to our hotel.

Around this time we started to try and get our Skype connection up and running. We'd been busy so we hadn't realized how bad the wifi sevice at our resort was. We'd booked the place specifically because they had wifi and we knew we'd want to use it on Christmas day to speak with our families. What a disappointment! We tried to get it working for over an hour and the staff at the hotel showed no interest in helping us at all. In a pathetic showing of Christmas communication we used the hotel PC to chat on Facebook with my Mom and brother and e-mail Mel's parents. It was the best we could do and was pretty disappointing after an otherwise awesome Christmas. We tried to lift our spirits with a warm nighttime swim in our hotel pool, but nothing would prepare us for how pissed off we'd find ourselves that night. The Russians in the room next to us sat in front of our front door screaming into a cellphone until 2am, and then the resort's night club kept the music pounding until 3:30am. The night club, which no one went to, kept us up every night until we left Langkawi. I would urge anyone considering a stay at this place to think twice.

The next day we decided we would rent scooters and see some of the island. Since I'm the only one with a license that isn't expired, I tried first. When I almost drove into a ditch on my first try the guy at the rental agency said maybe it wouldn't be safe for me to rent the scooter and I had to agree. It was Mel's turn to try. She has a lot more experience driving than me and I knew she could handle it. We went to another rental agency. The exchange went something like this:

MEL: Hi, I'd like to rent a scooter.
EMPLOYEE: Do you have a passport?
MEL: No, but I do have an expired Canadian drivers license.
EMPLOYEE: It's 50RM. Is red color OK for you, sir?

Mel made it a little farther in her attempt to tame the scooter, but the result was the same. The rental agency lady had her hand over her mouth as she watched Mel try to make her way up the street. "It is not good idea," she said. And we had to agree.

Instead, we got Mai Tais and hired a driver. For 4 hours he drove us wherever we wanted to go for $10/hour. I was starting to love how cheap Malaysia was. Mel really wanted to go to the Langkawi cable car, so we went there first. We bought our tickets and then saw the line- it was longer than any line I'd ever seen at Disney World. For a cable car. OH, and also, they confiscated our water before we entered the line and the temperature was 40 degrees that day. We tried to stick with it, but after 30 minutes we'd only made it 1/3 of the way through the line and were starting to get the spins from heat exhaustion. We quit that bitch and headed straight to the first convenience store for some water when we realized a line the same size probably waited for us at the top of the hill when we wanted to come back down. I took a picture of the cable car from the bottom of the hill, for your enjoyment (above).

Since it was so hot, we decided to go hiking. Our smiley driver took us to the base of a hill we could hike to go to the Seven Wells waterfall. What we didn't know was that wild monkeys live on the hill. Hungry, wild monkeys. PS: the hike was about 25 minutes straight up and almost killed the two of us.

The waterfall was excellent- though it was more of a place to swim (there were seven wells, get it?) than a waterfall. We swam for a bit, which felt excellent, and admired the view of the stupid cable car to our right. Oh, and after swimming there I developed a mean rash on my back that itched like crazy for the rest of the trip. Thought you'd like to know.

We pretty much spent the next two days straight at the Frangipani swimming and sunbathing in the day. We'd learned our lesson from the cable car and agreed not to have anymore hard sightseeing days. This down time was wonderful, and the only thing we had to think about was what amazing food we'd eat each day and what drinks we'd buy for our funny cooler at our mart each night. The beach strip was full of Thai, Indian, Chinese and Western restaurants and we never had a single bad meal. Everything was so delicious.

I read three books in five days on Langkawi. So relaxing.

On our last night, we went to a little permanent market set up off the main beach area, Pantai Cenang. Here, we realized that Langkawi is a little hotbed of rip-off designer merchandise. I picked up some shorts and Mel got a few sundresses but we really went crazy at the fake bag store. $80 later we walked out with: a Jimmy Choo bag, a Burberry bag, a Prada bookbag, Gucci sunglasses, a Louis Vuitton messenger bag, an Adidas gym bag, an Ana Sui wallet and a Hugo Boss wallet. It's fake as hell, but it was fun.

It would be criminal to write a blog about our stay in Langkawi and not mention Big C. Big C is the rooster with me in the above picture. He lived at our resort and woke us up every morning when the sun rose. This was after the nightclub kept us up until 3am, mind you. But he was such a good guy, how could we not love Big C, anyway?

We knew we wanted to get something to eat before our flight and when we saw Kenny Rogers' chicken restaurant I knew exactly where we had to go. It wasn't really that great, Kenny.

Penang

After landing in Penang we took a taxi to our hotel. At $8 for a 45 minute drive it was better than trying to figure out a new bus system to get ourselves there, and as an added bonus the cabbie had the radio tuned to an English radio station that seemed to only play songs by former American Idol contestants. As we drove past palm trees, tropical hideaways and Swastika Society buildings we were treated to classic music by Lee DeWyze, David Cook and even random contestants like Katherine McPhee. Idols, if you career isn't taking off in the states, you can always move to Penang where you're sure to be loved.

Our hotel room was so much nicer than the craphole in Langkawi! It was like your typical, western-style hotel room which is all we wanted at this point. Cozy bed= check. Bathtub= check. NO NIGHTCLUBS= check.

Sea view= check!!! We enjoyed this balcony everyday... it was very nice.

On our first night in Penang we took a bus into Georgetown and just got off at a random point and walked around. We went to a Buddhist temple and just generally took in the cool architecture of the city. I would love to live in the house in the photo above.

All the streets seemed to have this shabby European quality about them that just seemed so charming after a year and a half of touring large Asian cities. I could live here.

Another sign that I could live here: there's an A&W! Now, I'm not exactly obsessed with A&W like I am with Arby's or anything, but it was nice to have a mozza burger and a root beer at a mall we found later that night. But A&W could not prepare me for what I saw in the grocery store at that same mall. I present to you, the top 5 reasons why Korean supermarkets have nothing on Malaysian grocery stores:

Lays AND Ruffles chips!!!!!

Chip dip!!!

Turkeys!

Lean Cuisines!!!!!!!

Readily available root beer!

Not pictured: sour cream, frozen pizzas, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Quaker granola bars, sweet & sour sauce,taco kits, and and AND SO MUCH MORE. It was like being at home. I was getting dizzy so we had to leave. I bought some chips and dip, and well, you know how the rest of the night went. Zexy.

The next day we went into Georgetown again, and did some sightseeing. First we went to the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi temple, which was used to film the movie "Anna & the King". It looked like every other temple I've ever seen.

Kapitan Keling Mosque. I'd never been to a Mosque before... pretty cool building.

The colors of Little India.

Next, we went to see the clan Jetties, where locals live in colorful, traditional huts on the sea.

We decided to get a taxi to Tesco, because we'd already accumulated so much stuff that we needed to buy another suitcase. This had been the plan all along because we had to throw out two suitcases when we left Taiwan due to baggage restrictions, but we will need them again when we go back to Canada. A perfectly nice $30 suitcase in tow, we bought SO MANY amazing groceries, toothpastes, deoderants and soaps to bring back to Korea with us. We don't really want for anything in Seoul, but it's nice to treat yourself to some things you miss when you get the chance.

That night we took a twisty-turny bus to a night market in Batu Ferrenghi, a beachy area 20 minutes past our hotel. The market was pretty big but didn't really sell anything we were interested in. The food looked pretty amazing, though, as all food in Malaysia seems to. We hung out under a palm tree on the beach for a while, before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Taking the bus into Georgetown, we'd noticed a few bridal shops that Mel wanted to check out. Korea is not the place to buy your gown, and one that she ordered online proved to be a bust. She tried on a few dresses in each shop but nothing looked right. Malaysian dresses are so gawdy! Too much lace, too many beads, too much everything. Since she didn't find anything interesting, we headed back to our hotel to spend the afternoon relaxing by the water.

Unfortunately, it started pouring after about an hour. It rained on and off for hours, and since this was New Years Eve we were worried that we wouldn't get to see the fireworks we'd planned to. It cleared up, though, but since we wound up leaving a bit late we couldn't get to the Fort Cornwallis fireworks show that we'd meant to see. Instead, we wound up at a busy party by the sea wall, where the mall (the one with the A&W) had a concert, food market and fireworks going on. It was pretty cool- we got some fruit, shaved ice, chicken skewers and coconut milk (PASS!) and then watched not 1, but 3 fireworks shows that exploded along the waterfront.

That night the buses in Penang were supposed to be running until 2am, so we decided to take advantage of this since getting a taxi back to the hotel was impossible. Our bus ran every 7 minutes, so we figured it would be no problem. Well, after ONE HOUR of waiting along with a group of also-impatient tourists and annoying locals kids with a bullhorn, no bus had shown up. We'd seen buses on the other side of the road so we knew one would come eventually... right? Well, at 1am this bus with blacked-out windows showed up, a guy got off and started shouting and everyone lined up for his bus. A local guy told us we should get on. By all rights, this choice should have resulted in our murders, but instead we just got our long-awaited ride home. Instead of charging 2RM like the city bus, these "pirates" charged 3RM (90 cents)- what a racket!- and they cackled like sinister super-villains as our pirate bus drove us home. We laughed the whole drive home at these characters. They made our night. Happy New Year!

Kuala Lumpur

The next morning we got up around 8am, ate a lousy free buffet breakfast, and headed to the airport for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. From KL airport, we took a bus into the city and then a taxi to our hotel. Our room wasn't ready so we left our bags, went to the mall across the road for something to eat, and then took the monorail to see the Petronas Twin Towers.

They were really big, industrial and very cool looking. There was a mall inside, and since we were hot as hell, we shopped around a bit. I was starting to understand why everyone says there's nothing to do in KL but shop. There's something like 50 malls in the city and prices average $5-10 for the clothes. It's pretty amazing. You could totally have a shopping holiday there, and I could have spent the whole time in Top Man. *swoon*

Inside the mall where Mel finally found the perfect wedding dress. It's beautiful. We can't wait for this summer!

Next, we went to Jalan Alor, KL's famous food street. We were hoping to flit about from stall to stall trying all the hawker food, but most places were set up as proper outdoor restaurants and since we were hungry, that's how we wound up eating.

Lemon chicken, greens and fried rice. A nice meal for our last night of vacation.

After going back to the MALL again, we headed back to our hotel. The room was so small- just large enough for a bed and our two suitcases, but it was clean and conveniently located. Unfortunately, our only window offered a view of the laundry room and it was pretty loud in the morning. At least the garden area was nice, so we played cards and had a few gloriously non-Korean beers before bed.

The next morning we took a taxi to the KL airport- the world's most confusing airport!!!!- and lined up to check-in for our flight. At two hours before take-off, the line was almost out the door and exactly ONE clerk was working to check people in. ONE. We waited in line for 90 minutes and they were calling a final boarding call for our flight while we were still waiting in line. With a hundred people behind us in line we knew the flight would be delayed, and it was, by an hour. Airasia's cheap prices allowed us to travel where we did, but let it be known that they are truly a crappy airline to travel with.

ANYWAY, this was one of the best and certainly most relaxing trips we've ever taken. The food was amazing, the prices were cheap and the culture was interesting. I'd recommend Malaysia to anybody. And even though Korea feels a little extra-cold right now, there's enough yummy food in my cupboards right now to warm my seoul for a long time.