Lonely Planet works

We are leaving Calgary on the 5th of May 2009 going to Seoul, Korea; very excited!! Mainly because Lonely Planet made it sound so fantastic! We are leaving from calgary with United Airline connecting through Vancouver, then we took Korean Airline and arrive in Incheon International Airport the next day 6th of May 2009. We are going to start our 7 day trip in Incheon!

While we were on the plane ( still reading this huge Lonely Planet book) found out many interesting and of course, the essential information before we arrive in our final destination. Korea is located at the East of Asia, their major language is Korean and their currency is South Korean Won (KWN). The conversion of money from Canadian to Korean Won is $1.00CAD equivalent to 1151.96 Korean Won. Korea is offically named as the Republic of Korea, and it is divided into two sections, North and South Korea. Korea's flag is white with the Ying Young in the middle, red on top and blue on the bottom with lines surrounding the centre. Every symbol on each side of the flag represents a meaning, fire, earth, peace, and water. Korea's tempeture is fairly nice through out the whole year. In the summer it reaches 30 degress celcius average and in winter it gets as low as 10 degrees celcius. South Korea's captial city is Seoul but their international airport is located in Incheon(ICN) and Incheon is just a little bit west of Seoul. In Korea, during weddings and festivals, Koreans wear their traditional clothing called Hanbok. Their trains are named KTX and it goes all around the major cities of Korea, such as Incheon (soon open), Seoul, Pusan etc. Korea is also one of the leading companies for electronic technology such as Samsung and LG. Korea's national martial art is Tae Kwon Do, and they look crazy!

Finally read the whole book ( yeah I know! The whole book. It was a 13 hour flight, I had nothing else better to do) Now I am more excited to see the Korea that I have read! I am really excited for eating their food too!!

After we checked in the hotel in Seoul, we decided to go out and do some shopping. Johnny needed buy some healthy stuff for his parents. So we went to Medicine Market (Oriental Medicine Industry District) first. The Seoul Medicine Market is at the center of herbal medicine trade. There are over thousand medicinal herb clinics, medicinal herb shops, and drugstores. it was a really great place for shopping. Johnny and I bought some Korean Ginseng for their families.

After that, Carlo started to complian, he needed to buy something for his friends too. so we moved to another shopping area called Namdamun Market. Namdaemun Market is located in the very center of Seoul, is the biggest traditional market in Korea selling Korean arts and craft - cheaper than outside by 40%.

Carlo bought a korean style doll for his sister.