May 13 - Up, up & away

May 13 - Up, up & away

1st leg CLE-Lax (5 hrs)

Adventure begins upon arrival at the airport. I get there the standard 2 hours early. Good thing I did because there were problems with out check-in and baggage. They were trying to check our bags only to Korea but we were supposed to have them check through to our final flight, Shanghai. When I explained this to the very helpful ticket manager they said they weren’t showing our flight to Shanghai. Fortunately, one of my travel mates arrived and I confirmed about the baggage and she got the same thing on her tickets. It took nearly 30 minutes to straighten it out. But, what would an adventure be without a hiccup or two.

We begin gathering at our gate, which was empty when we arrived. We settle in for the 40 or so minute wait to board. And, that’s where adventure #2 starts.

We take our seats on the sold out flight to LAX on a nice 737. TV (for a price) on the back of the head rests, nice seats for coach and friendly flight attendants. We sit, and sit, and sit and the pilot comes overhead and says we’re going to have a short delay due to a mechanical issue with the rear baggage compartment.

Ok, fair enough. So we wait and wait until he comes back on saying they had to move all the luggage to the front compartment that is would be a minute before we can back out of the gate. So again we wait and wait.

“Due to the weight shift we have to ask 12 passengers to volunteer to take the next flight to LAX at 11:NYC at 6pm. Plus side, you get $300 of airline bucks.”

Our group can’t reroute due to connections. We all patiently watch as no one volunteers. But then one gets up and after 30 minutes of begging they get 7 people to leave. Next they were going to start pulling the last to check in passengers list, and 1 of our group was on the list. Final the last 5 left and we taxied out, 1 hour and 24 minutes late.

Could be worse right?
Books read: Jen Lancaster (4stars)

Movies: Star Trek (2009) (4stars)

May 27- Busan, South Korea

Busan


I wasn’t sure what to expect of Busan, much less Korea. Things were dicey, to say the least, and tensions were high with North Korea. Here we were, bound for South Korea.

Unlike China, now my second home, I had never studied anything about Korea. I didn’t have a clue about the language or the culture. I had friends who came to the University of Akron to study and they were shy and sweet. It was a sampling of 3 out of millions, so I am guessing I am not getting a true reading.

After a grueling day of traveling that started at 5am China time, I was looking forward to sleep. I expected a single person waiting for the group at the airport if anyone. As I dragged my tired self and my heavy backpack down the ramp to follow the rest of the group I began to hear cheering and laughter. I walked through the doors to see about 10 students, several men in suits and giant banners welcoming us. This was not expected.

They gathered around us rapid firing questions in English about what we liked and had we had a good trip so far. It was like we fed off their excitement to see us and gained some energy back. The students of Pusan University for Foreign Studies walked over to the baggage claim with us and helped us with our bags.

We followed their smiling faces to a giant tour bus sized nice bus. They loaded our luggage and we boarded. The bus was decorated with a mix of old and new Korea and was quite comfortable.

Once aboard they announced they had a gift for us then proceeded to hand out beautiful gift bags. Each one contained a paper weight and a very expensive umbrella. Which they stated, we might need.

Driving to our hotel the braver students would sit next to us and point out things that we would pass. I wish I would have had batteries for my camera because the views were exquisite. The city was lit up with lights as if set out to welcome weary souls.

We arrived at our hotel and expected what we had grown accustomed to in China, a standard and sparse room with a view of our neighbor’s house. This was not the case.

We are given room numbers and told that it is 4 to a room instead of our customary 2 in China. We all go with the flow and head up to the 6th floor to see what awaits us. Getting off the elevator was the first clue that we were in for a treat.

Our doors were open and we walked into what could only be described as “wow.”

Beautiful wood floors, no beds just ornate pillows and pads for us to lie on. The furniture was set up for lying on the heated floors and on our beautiful dresser was a large bunch of bananas, a huge box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, bowls, spoons, instant coffee, cherry tomatoes, and below was a refrigerator. All this wasn’t from the hotel but the school and the students. They even stocked orange juice and milk in the fridge. We hadn’t seen such western comforts since leaving the States 2 weeks prior.

We rushed to look at everything. Toilet-check, bathtub-check, amazing balcony with a view of the ocean and mountains- check and double check! We have arrived in paradise.


The group was full of excitement as we investigated all of the rooms. The girls all had rooms like ours, with the traditional style bedding and heated floors. The boys, however, got beds. Which was cool by me because how often can you say you slept traditional Korean style with an ocean view.

As we settled in for the night, I could hear the waves crash against the beach and I thought to myself, “yep, I’m going to like it here,” and I did

Trip talk

So, I’ve been procrastinating at blogging about the trip to China & Korea, not out of laziness but out of not knowing where to start. I did so much, saw amazing stuff and met fabulous people. It is hard to know what to begin with.

Here is my itinerary for the journey:

May 13
6:55 a.m. EST leave CLE for LAX
Arrive LAX change terminals to international for flight (12 hrs) to Seoul, Korea.
Lose a day in flight and it is now May 14th when we arrive in Seoul.

May 14
Change planes and fly to Shanghai, China.

May 15
Shopping all day at Nanjing road & Old Shanghai

May 16
AM- Pudong area
PM- Night train to Kaifeng

May 17
Arrive in Kaifeng at 6:45 a.m.
Culture class, iron pagoda, tour campus, banquet

May 18
Language class, dragon pavilion, shopping on imperial street, tour Kaifeng Jewish home and neighborhood, pub star to meet students

May 19
Quick shopping
Drive to Zhengzhou for day train to Xi’an (bullet train)
Arrive in Xi’an

May 20
Panda sanctuary
Road side restaurant
Foot massages

May 21
Terracotta Warriors
Hot springs
Dinner with tour guide

May 22
Muslim market
Drum tower
Night Train to Beijing

May 23
Arrive early go to hotel
Summer palace

May 24
Forbidden City, Market

May 25
The Great Wall

May 26
Free day to explore Beijing

May 27
Say by to our amazing hosts and fly to Seoul
Change terminals and fly to Busan, Korea
Arrive at Busan, meet students and amazing hosts
Hotel on the beach

May 28
Pusan University of Foreign Studies tour
Busan City Bus tour (my adventure with ripped pants)
Worlds largest department store
Dinner - Korean BBQ

May 29
Pohang Steel Company tour
Gyeongju Tour - which included bike ride around village

May 30
Free day (Beach baby!)

May 31
Check out of paradise
Cruise around Busan Harbor
Culture Center - drum class, pottery, sleep over with students from PUFS
Overnight stay

June 1
Depart Busan for Seoul
Arrive Seoul
Buddist Temple stay - lunch
Dinner

June 2
Group went to DMZ - I got free day
Explored area in Seoul that our hotel was in

June 3
Afternoon - Seoul City tour
Blue House, old capitol, shopping, stream, dinnder

June 4
Travel back home, going back in time…

As you can see I did a lot and I miss a lot of stuff due to a nasty fall I had in Kaifeng. Every place has lots to ell about it. Heck every journey to every place has a story about it. It was a amazing, once in a life time experience.

So I am trying to start with one of the last days and fill in people, places & things of the rest of the trip. The next post is going to be about Busan, South Korea. Where the “ocean meets the mountains” or paradise I lovingly call it.

If you can bare with me this summer as I put together a proper journal from my trip I promise to share the amazing Asian adventure that I had.

And to all the fabulous people I met along the way - Thank you for making my life that much richer for having you in it.

Hugs,

Shannon