As is typical I’ve been busy with guests, work and fun day trips.  In two weeks it’ll finally be School’s Out for Summer!  I’m so looking forward to that.  Our trip to China and Korea seems like forever ago, but it was just last month.

I promised a post on South Korea and Hong Kong, so here’s a quick snapshot of the fun we had.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Seoul and Hong Kong were our favourite places.  In part because they’re just easier to navigate.  There’s no strict visa process or censorship, there’s more English spoken, and our credit cards easily worked.  Seoul was the friendliest, quirkiest city we visited.  You’d think taking a tour to DMZ would be a somber event, but once you get over the barbed wire alongside the road (to keep North Korean soldiers from swimming in for an attack — a plan gone wrong for those swimmers) your bus pulls into, I shit you not, an amusement park.  Our guide told us it was for the young children of families visiting the area to either mourn the loss of relatives or feel closer to loved ones still on the other side.

The tour we took included a stroll into an infiltration tunnel (you can’t take pics), which I was really excited about until a few minutes in I realised I was going to have to walk like a hunchback for too long a time.  Um, those tunnels were not made for the tall folk.  But, it’s all good because our exhausted selves got to be entertained by our singing tour guide.

Yep, we dodged mines listening to “Gangham style” and “I did it my way!’   It was so odd to be in such a serious, tense place (there are rules to follow and soldiers to do their thing) surrounded by so much touristy/silly things, but I think that might sum up Korea — mix in the fun with the serious.

We also got to go to a Korean baseball game (way fun and so much energy) and a Korean barbeque (yum yum!).  And, yes, we got to use high tech toilets (the fan is oddly refreshing) and see K-pop fashion.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hong Kong was oh so cosmopolitan and gorgeous.  We had an amazing day touring their Big Buddha and surrounding areas.  It was just stunning.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There’s so much more I could tell you, but I’m tired from a day at work, so the pics will  have to tell the tale.  We’re hoping to visit both Hong Kong and Seoul again and do more touring around.  This trip was just a quick taste of what it was like, plus a chance to whoop it up with Jordy & Wilber and my buds based near (a few hours away) Hong Kong.

Before I close out, though, I do have to share some of the bizarre signs we saw.  LOL definitely lost in translation (or not …)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

But my favourite all time pic is this one from our last night in Korea.

What you don’t see is the metal pole with a latch on the top. This is on the 9th floor of our hotel near the elevator.  Basically, if there’s a fire you’re supposed to hook yourself up to that rope, trust the metal pole and repel to safety.  Um, I guess it’s first man first live; everyone else gets to jump.

Next up?  Bonnie and Michael visit, and then we’re off to our summer travels.  Oh and Dou Dou fest is also just around the corner — another week of mayhem and dragons.