Ti & Ryan’s Blog

“Live one meditative day well, with freedom, strength, and wisdom, rather than a hundred years of laziness and bondage.”     -The Dhammapada

Well, today was our last day & we wanted to “live it well!” although things didn’t exactly go our way today.  I guess luck only holds out for so long, but at least it held out until our last day here!!!

We have been SO lucky with the weather <though I might’ve just jinxed us now by saying that>.  The only time it rained hard was our 1st day in Korea & our 3rd day in Kyoto & we were on  the bus most of that time!  I have to say that 99% of our trip has been filled with good fortune & luck & it is probably because many, many of YOU have ALL wished this to us, so it had to come true!

We had a GREAT western style breakfast <because the Japanese breakfast had ALOT of fish>

Ry didn’t eat his eggs or yogurt, so I got to eat for 2 both mornings!

The computer hasn’t been working well here <the screen seems to go blank often when you write> & you can only access the internet from 8-10am & 4-11pm.  REALLY sucks if you want to use it during that time.  We were able to plug in our laptop to the cable connection & upload our blog that we created offline, but it is SLOWwww…!

After we checked our email & Ry tried to fix the inn computer, we headed out on our bikes.  Only 500 yen/day <$5> to rent.  What a bargain & we soon found out WHY it was such a bargain!!!

<Note to self: Don’t wear a skirt while on bike> It was a short ride until we found out that our brakes didn’t work too well.  Other than shrieking terribly every time we tried to stop, & if you were going fast enough, it was REALLY hard TO STOP!!!  Besides that, we REALLY enjoyed riding & enjoying the scenery instead of walking!!!  Ry looks SO BIG on the small bike!!!  It is VERY funny to see him ride it!

We rode to the Kintetsu Train Station to get our limousine bus tickets that takes you right to the Kansai airport in Osaka.  What a nice ride!  Much better than taking 2 trains with ALL our stuff & a little more pricey <3600 yen> but well worth the convenience.  We have to take the 8:00am bus because there is no 9:00 of course.  There is a 6,7,8,10,11,12,13,14,15…. but of course, NO 9!  This is where our luck started to turn on us.  So we will have to get up SUPER early tomorrow, but we can chill in the airport.

We asked the information lady in the station who’s son lives in Manhattan, where we should take our bikes today.  She said there was a lovely temple located at the top of the map with many artistic things to see.  It didn’t look far from where we were, so we headed there with GREAT adventures in mind.

We took a wrong turn somehow <which has happened often on this trip & asked for directions> & ended up in a real beautiful residential area.  It was nice to bike around lost for a while in the “countryside” of Nara.

Now after MANY wrong turns, me falling off the bike & scraping up myself & the camera, & much asking of directions, we FINALLY made it to our destination, Akishinodera Temple, after about 5 miles of biking.

Like I said, it looked ALOT closer!!!  We arrived tired & hot.  It was 1000 yen to get in & we were hesitant to pay because it didn’t look that big nor impressive & also we were trying to save last bit of money for our check out tomorrow.  But we decided since we rode ALL the way here, we should at least take a look.  Well, we should’ve listened to our instincts.  It took us about 5 minutes to see it ALL & we were left sadly unimpressed after all the other GREAT temples we had seen.  We should’ve checked out the palace instead, but by now it was almost 3pm & we were very hungry & tired & needed a break.

All along the way up & back we looked for a wi-fi connection to check-in for our flights.  Seats open up 24hrs before so we wanted to try to get seats together since we couldn’t when we 1st booked our flights.  Since the hotel doesn’t have the internet, we decided to bring the laptop.  Wrong decision.  Ry’s bike fell with it in it & it opens funny now.  No major damage, but it wasn’t a good idea to begin with (the battery died anyway before we could get our seats).  Could’ve done the whole thing on the iphone or waited to get back to the hotel at 4.

We went to our  favorite noodle place that takes your picture for the 3rd time & has the most AWESOME bathroom <the budeau with the butt dryer!>.  He was so happy to see us again!!!  We bathed in the air conditioning, cool atmosphere, & good service & food!  He gave us a free dessert which seems to be the custom here after you eat at a place 3 times.  He also took a picture of me in the 5000000 yen <$50k> wedding kimono he had hanging on the wall!!!

He suggested a cool place, after much confusion, by drawing us pictures & circling on the map <who needs to know the language anyway!> We all took a final photo of the three of us to hang on the wall!  Now there are 3 pictures of us hanging in Nara!!!

It was funny, because 1 of the pictures Ry had REALLY bad red-eye, so  I tried to fix it with the black marker.  Well, it came out looking so funny that Ryan & I laughed the hardest we have ever laughed over it!!!  I could barely write anything on it I was laughing so hysterically.

We returned to the hotel to try to book our flight but the inn keeper was trying to fix it.  I waited while Ry took a nap.  I booked our flights & am waiting to wake Ry to go out for our last night excursion in Nara.

This will probably be our last blog since we will be traveling & flying ALL day!!!

See you back in Buffalo!!!  We will finish updating our blog & adding more stuff when we get back, so please stay tuned!!!  It’s been a pleasure writing to you ALL!!!

All our love,

Try

We woke up rather early (too early for us) and had a nice western style breakfast of the typical: hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, toast, fruit <kiwi & banana>, and tea & coffee.

We headed out to see all of the sites we saw last night but now seeing them during the day.

There are a bunch “arcades” here which is basically like covered streets that are similar to malls.  They sell all sorts of things and are really close to where we are staying (Also gets us out of the sun!).  The restaurant we ate at last night is in one of the arcades.

After we looked around there for a bit, we headed to see some turtles and more deer.  There is a beautiful little pond just outside of the park that has a TON of turtles.  They were sunning themselves and a few people were feeding them.

We headed to the park to see deer.

We only saw a few last night, but these guys were out in full force today and meant some business.  They were everywhere!  They aren’t just in the park either.  They hang out in the streets, near buildings, everywhere!  There is a great deal of respect for the deer so they seem well taken care of and very used to people.

There are little “Bambi Cookie” <That’s what Michele called them when they came> stands all over the place where you could buy some sort of cracker for 150 Yen (about $1.50 US ).  You buy some of these crackers,  & these guys are all over you!  5 or 6 would run up to you and “ask” you for some.  It’s really cute, they run up and bob their heads up and down asking for crackers.  This is their way of “bowing” to you. We think they learned it from the monks.

You have to be careful though, they can get a little pushy.

We then went to see the biggest wooden building that holds the biggest wooden Buddha!  It’s MASSIVE!

The Buddha just barely fits in that building!!!

***Dumb luck alert***

While one our way to see the Buddha we saw some people that looked rather familiar.  It turns out that a few days ago we saw this couple sitting right in front of us on some random bus in Kyoto!  They were taking a day trip to Nara and we happened to run into them again!  Very nice couple, Tino & Sophia from Spain!

Mo

New Friends!

***End of dumb luck alert***

On our way to grab some lunch, we walked by some guys with Rickshaws (two wheeled vehicle that carry people around while a guy pulls you).  We decided that after seeing them everywhere we would try one finally! We’ve put a lot of thought into it though. We feel really bad about having them pull us up hills and it is so hot, that we didn’t want to kill the guy!! So we picked our guy and told him the spot (which was all downhill and rather close).  It was wonderful!!  He would run a bit, stop and talk a bit, run some more, the stop and show us some really nice sites.

We grabbed some food and came home to take a break <T took a nap> then we headed off to see some night life.

We walked to get some ice cream and made our way to the pretty little pond to see it all lit up at night.  It was a really beautiful sight.

***dumb luck alert***

On our way to the pond we saw ANOTHER person that looked familiar.   He was hanging out near the pond. We met this guy, Russell, at the monkey park in Kyoto.  It truly is a small world.

Russell is from the U.K. and is traveling around Japan for a total of 7 weeks!!  Must be NICE!

***End of dumb luck alert***

We wandered around some more and found a REAL arcade(you,know, one you play games in).  When Ry was a kid, and played a lot of games, Ry always dreamed of going to a Japanese arcade.  Most video games are created in Japan!  Ry spent about an half-hour playing Street Fighter 5!  (He almost beat the game-He was undefeated until the last boss.  He was really tough and cheated.)

He didn’t look like this after he lost.

After Ryan lost, we kept strolling around taking in the sights.  The temperature is so much better at night and the sights are really pretty.

We came to Kintetsu Station (where we’re going to take the train to Osaka to come home.) and we saw these guys playing guitar outside in the street (one would play a few songs, then the other).  We hung out for a bit listening to them.  Ry will tell you, it was probably the best guitar playing we’ve ever seen.  It was absolutely amazing.  These guys were so YOUNG and could play so well.  If only the US had people like these.  We got some info from them we’ll post later.

Two guys playing amazing music.

To wrap up the night we went to McDonalds for some Fries, a Kit-Kat Flurry and an Apple pie….  What!?  Everything was closed!

Great ending to a great day!

Tomorrow for our last FULL day of our trip, we’ve reserved some bicycles to get a more “high-speed” view of wonderful Nara.

ttfn,

TRy

email today:

hello everyone!!!

we had another AMAZING day here in NARA!!! please read our blog to see what we did!!!

http://try.farbnode.com

tomorrow, we are going to rent bicycles <500 yen each or about $5> for the day!!! this way we can tote around town a little faster & maybe see some more on our last day in japan!!! also, maybe we’ll get a little exercise while we’re at it!!! neither of us has done anything but walk & eat for 2 whole wks!!!

we might take the train to inari as well to see the famous place where they filmed some of “memoirs of a geisha,” but are not sure. we want to make the MOST of our last day in japan! saturday we fly home to buffalo, NY!!!

hope ALL is well with everyone!!! safe travels & many GREAT adventures if you are traveling!!!

take care & be well,
ttfn,
TRy

ps. if you want to reply by email, please use gmail account, NOT localnet. the inbox is full & might send a msg undelivered back to u!!!

In clapping both hands, a sound is heard.  What is the sound of one hand?     -Hakuin

Yesterday in Kyoto was VERY HOT!!! I think it was the hottest it’s been since we’ve been in Japan!!! FULL SUN!!! & Of course that’s the day I decided to wear pants & the 1 day we didn’t take our umbrellas with us.  The mosquitoes here have been LOVING me & i have many sores on my legs, so the long pants & sweat really aggravated them.  I ended up rolling up my pants & making them into shorts.  Ahhhh… more comfortable, but more exposure to mosquitoes.  Cant’ win!

We had a GREAT time at Nijo Castle!!!

 

Garden view from our room at Hotel Seikanso

 

We like Nara VERY much!!! It is VERY different from Kyoto, more laid back & relaxing.  I am SO glad that we ended our trip here.  I took a bath in the onsen baths at the hotel which are already drawn up for you & HOT right when you get in.  It was like HEAVEN!!! & Made me sleepy.  We went to bed REALLY early just before 10!  Usually we go by 12.  Slept for 10 hrs!!! WOO-HOO!!!

Waiting for the bus to Seikanso

The computer is a little tricky here, but we’ll try our best.

Keep tuning in!!!

ttfn!

TRy

email we sent today:

we are getting ready to check out of our hotel
 
we are going to leave our luggage at the hotel & then go to see nijo castle. it is a shogun’s castle. if we have time, we’ll stop at kodai-ji temple on the way back, but we are pretty templed out!!! then take a 1hr train to nara.
 
check our blog cause we posted some pics of our day yesterday!!!
 
on to nara & a new hotel for 3 more nites on the last leg of our AMAZING trip!!!
 
luv u ALL!
TRy

Sadly, today was our last FULL day in Kyoto, Japan

Our housemates have ALL left for their next destinations and we were SO sad to see them go.  We had such an AMAZING time here with ALL of them!!! 

Sara (Happy 25th Birthday!!! We had a little party for her the nite before with little chocolate cakes & sake!) and Freddy left this morning for Hiroshima. 

We helped Michele and Ferida to Kyoto station to drop off their luggage so they wouldn’t have to lug it around on our day’s escapades

Tea Ceremony

Our first stop was to the Choraku-Ji temple to experience a traditional Tea Ceremony by a monk with Ferida & Michele.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Karate Kid III, it is a Japanese ritual of the making of tea (or “macha” which is tea in powdered form).  It has a heavy influence from Zen Buddhism and is a very disciplined & meditative practice.  We thought we were running late, but made it at 11:58, just in time!  Our appointment was at 12!  (We have had such good luck with timing on this trip!!!) 

We ran up MANY, MANY stairs…

…and were greeted by a monk who had finished cleaning the steps with a bamboo broom.  He asked if we were there for the ceremony and told us to wait for a moment while he prepared.  Within 5 minutes he came back and escorted us up a small path to this little place with tatami mats.  The setting was pure nature in its truest & simplest form.  The feeling was so peaceful.　You couldn’t hear cars or people or anything other than the sounds of crickets and water running　(oh! - and the mosquitoes buzzing/biting too!  They had Ti for lunch!!!).  We washed our hands in a natural water fountain (a nice ritual all temples here observe) & entered the room to remove our shoes.  We quietly sat around a display of a large clay pot of water, 6 tea bowls, & a scoop (for water), spoon for measuring the tea, and a whisk all made of bamboo.  Ti and I know from being around Buddhist monks and nuns that they usually demand respect so you should act accordingly.  We did our best and Ferida & Michele followed along. 

After a little preparation, he faced us, & kneeling down did a full bow (head touching the floor).  We did the same.  After we came up from our bow, he smiled and said “Oh, Please Relax” In a happy, broken-English tone.  We all sat a bit more easy as he began the anticipated ceremony.

He proceeded to go through the ritual of cleaning the tools, preparing the water, adding the matcha, adding the water, and mixing the tea with the whisk.  He would then lift the bowl with both hands, turn it clockwise twice and place it in front of one of us.  There were 2 sweet, chalky crackers in front of us that he told us to eat.  “Sweet goes good with bitter,” he said.  He explained that the mix of the sweet cracker and the bitter tea is a wonderful contrast and makes the combination of the two quite amazing.  He then told us to pick up the bowl with our left hand and place it into our right, then turn it counter-clockwise 2 times and take a sip using both hands.  We understood, that alone, the tea was too bitter, the crackers too sweet, but together there is just enough of both to make something GREAT! Very zen!

We finished all our tea and crackers and the ritual was soon ended by the cleaning of the tools, a short explanation of its meaning, & another bow.  We left feeling at peace - ready for the rest of our LAST day in Kyoto.

Note: for more info on the tea ceremony, check out wikipedia (LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony)

Chrysanthemum Festival

The Chrysanthemum Festival was located on the other end of the city in the Horin-ji Temple, so we really had to hoof it to get there!!!  The trip was longer than expected and we arrived a little late, but made it just in time to see the performance <video might be coming soon> & drink of the special chrysanthemum sake! <good timing once again!>  They gave us all a chrysanthemum flower to take home with us too!!!

The foot baths at the train station were SO refreshing after a longgg days walk!!! 

Now that’s ALOT of feet!!!

Here are some more pics of our day!!! ENJOY!!!

Doll Geisha

Man Geisha

Lion trying to dress like Geisha 

Monk on bridge 

More Kimonos

Rickshaw up the BIG hill. Phew! 

HUGE & beautiful koi

Some feathered friends

Some turtles sunning themselves

Kyoto Tower

Some Japanese fashion.  Boots, fur shorts, & sweater top.  Cute, but ONLY in Japan!!! 

Kyoto Station. WOW!!! SO modern!

THE HOSTEST WITH THE MOSTEST!!!  Our kind, helpful & always smiling owner of Hanakiya, Eimi. 

Some pics of US: 

On the train 

In the foot baths

Before the tea ceremony

At our FAVORITE noodle place.  Cheap & Good eats!!! 

Known to be the most beautiful street in ALL of Asia.

Time to Blog!!! 

Our days are so full & longgg & our nites last until we can’t keep our eyes opened any longer!!!  

ttfn!  Thanks for tuning in again!!!

TRy

Today is our 8th day of our trip.  It was one of the BEST days we’ve had in Kyoto so far!!!

We went to the Tenryu-ji Temple for a Buddhist Monk Lunch.　There we saw the Japanese Gardens & the famous Bamboo Forest.  Then went to the Monkey Park in Arasiyama.  It was also THE DAY that I tried the Budeau for the first time!!!  All I can say is that we’re getting one for the apartment when we get home!!!

Here are some INCREDIBLE PHOTOS we took today:

Lost in the Bamboo Forest

We found a face in Ti's ice cream cone!

Baby Monkeys Everywhere!

Maiko near Tenryu-ji Temple

Kyoto from Monkey Park

ttfn!!!

hello everyone!!!
 
what an INCREDIBLE day yesterday!!! one of our favs!!! we will add more info & pics later today. all 4 of our roommates are leaving us today freddy & sarah are going on to hiroshima & ferida & michele are going onto tokyo for 4 days. we will miss them VERY much!!! not sure if we’ll have new roommates tonite or maybe we’ll have the whole place to ourselves!!!
 
we are spending some of our last full day here w/ferida & michele. we are going to experience the tea ceremony by a monk @ choraku-ji temple @ 12. then at 130 we are going to the chrysanthemum festival @ the horin-ji temple.
 
we have had just beautiful luck w/the weather!!! it only rained 1 time very hard but we were mostly on a bus & then it cleared up quickly. sunny & hi 80s today again!!! almost too hot!!!
 
did anyone try to find us on GPS??? we’re wondering if that is working?
 
ok. keep checking the blog!!!
 
hope ALL is well @ home.
Try

I was washing my face & getting ready for bed when I heard Ry yell, Ti come see this!!!  I heard ALL sorts of oooohh’s & aaaahh’s, so I ran out to see what all the fuss was.  There was a HUGE, I mean HUUGGGEEEE! spider on the wall!!!  Here’s a pic for your viewing pleasure! 

We named him Harry for obvious reasons.  He’s SOOOOO BIGGGGG that you can see RED-EYE in his eyes!!!

We didn’t know quite what to do about it!  By this time Ferida & Michele had just come home from dinner.  Everyone was pretty scared of it because we didn’t know if it was poisonous or not!  By the looks of it, it probably was!  Thoughts of that thing getting into our sleeping mats was HORRIFYING!!!  We all had been bitten by “something” at night because we all had little bites & itchiness, but we thought it might be mosquitoes or SMALL spiders.  Well, we were hoping anyway…

Even though back home I am not afraid of spiders, this one DID intimidate me a BIT more!  It was about the size of a tarantula or maybe even a little bigger!  All we had was a coffee mug to catch him in & it was about as wide as “he” was. <uh-huh!>  hmmm… There were empty ramen noodle bowls from Sarah & Freddy’s dinner that we considered for a moment & then we thought the waste paper basket might work.  Well that was too flimsy, so I thought I would try the cup.  I didn’t want to harm him, but I think the others may have had it either way as long as it was no longer there!  So I gave it a try with the mug.  He moved REALLY fast & there was NO way I was going to catch him that way.  Ry was SO worried I would get bit or it would jump out at me.  Everyone was SO fearful, including ME now!!!  So we decided to call Hiro down from upstairs to help us out.  That was our last resort!

Well it was a surprise to him too as we discerned by his expressions!!!  After taking a look at our new “friend,” he disappeared for a few moments & we heard some fumbling around in his little room downstairs.  Finally he emerged with a plastic shopping bag.  hmmm… We had our doubts but thought he may have dealt with this before, so we watched eagerly as he tried to catch the spider in the bag.  Soon after many failed attempts, clearly that wasn’t going to work! 

I had rinsed out the ramen noodle bowl which was about 2x the size of the coffee mug.  I gave it to Hiro to try.  <we kept our fingers crossed!!!> The spider by now had wandered very quickly almost down to the floor.  YEEESHHH!  At 1st the spider slipped out, but Hiro managed after his 2nd attempt to trap the spider underneath it!!!  We ALL went silent!!!  I slid a laminated sheet underneath it VERY carefully & voile!  It was done!!!  We VERY carefully tipped the bowl together with the sheet on top & keeping a VERY tight hand on top, as fast as he could, Hiro RAN outside the door & down the block holding the ramen noodle bowl outstretched in front of him as FAR from him as possible to let the spider go!!!  SUCCESS FINALLY!!!  What an exciting end to a VERY exciting day!!!  Now we can all sleep without fear of spiders, well… we hope…

Thank you Freddy & Sarah for eating in!  Hiro was our HERO tonite!!!

Curious about our “little friend???”  Check out some more information on our ex-roommate: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider

ps.  Make sure you check in your bed before you go to sleep tonite!!! <hee, hee>  You NEVER know what could be lurking in there!!!

ttfn!

Hello everyone!  Welcome to our blog!  Here is where all of our AMAZING news & stories from our trip to Korea, Japan and beyond… will be posted!  Please check daily for updates & new pics!!!

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.”     -Zen Proverb

hello everyone!!! we are here in kyoto, japan!!! we made it here safely & happily!!! it was SO easy! ALOT easier than korea! 

we arrived in osaka around 3pm & took a train 1hr 15min (very timely to the min!) to kyoto where it just started raining. when u get off the train they route u thru a department store b4 u can enter the st! very smart marketing!!! we then looked for a cab. the 1st cab driver was older & could not understand where we wanted to go except that it was near the kiyomizu temple. he didnt speak any english. the second cab driver spoke a little english & said he could take us after looking @ the address we printed in japanese <good thing! always have something in the language so they can read it too!> when we got in the cab he had to pull out the map again to look & seemed a little confused, so we took out the map that bob, who stayed here before, gave us <thanx so much BOB!> & he then knew right where to go! it was raining HARD now & we were really tired from our traveling. we were SO glad we found someone to take us then!!! the driver drove on the right side of the car & wore white cotton gloves & we sat on doily-covered seats in the back. the doors opened up automatically! we found out that our driver lived in nara, has 3 children & got off work @ 8pm. he had some ok english! here’s a pic:

Our cab driver

Once we got there, we just had to walk a few feet down a little hill to get to our ryokan, traditional japanese inn:

Our little table

@ 1st the lady, named ria, dressed in a kimono, said she didnt have any dishes that were vegetarian & tried to direct us to another place by bus but we didnt want to go on a bus yet & get lost on our 1st nite here & probably wouldnt have made it in time to eat anyway, so we asked if she could make us some noodles & i saw that they had tofu & she said yes!!! we had cold green tea noodles over ice <but they really werent that cold>, vegetable tempura, soft tofu w/green stuff, & rice. the whole meal was SO AMAZING & we were SO happy we stayed here!!!

we went back to our rm & met a nice couple from italy, ferida & michela who were going to nara today. we talked to them until midnite & then headed to bed. they were SO nice!!! they will tell us how nara is for our last leg of the trip.

 

ps. we have some catching up to do on our last days in seoul, but will be putting everything on our blog that we will be sending u soon!

ttfn! keep visiting daily for updates & more pics!!!

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind, there are few.”     -Shunryu Suzuki 

(Thought for the day from our Buddhist traveling journal) 

Here we are, sitting in Incheon International Airport for the last hours of our AMAZING visit to Seoul.  We are flying out at 1:20pm to Osaka, Japan through ANA Airlines.

We were talking and have both said that we will REALLY miss this place when we leave.  The Korean people have been SO very friendly and more than accommodating to our “American wimp” ways.  Always VERY happy to help us!!!

I’m not sure if it’s a Korea only or Asian only thing, but things are SO different here.  Always in a good way:

Example 1. Very service oriented

Even at the smallest places, the service is impeccable!  Always so attentive to every detail.  They have this wonderful invention called the “Call Button”.  It’s basically a button that is glued to your table that, when pressed, will call your server over to your table!  I saw that for the first time and immediately thought, “Yeah, right.  That can’t possibly work”.  Well, soon enough, we had our chance to see it in action.  Ti kept pressing the button by mistake with her elbow & sure enough, almost immediately, our server is at our table!  Now THAT’S service!!!

Also, you don’t tip for anything!  Maybe for higher-end places you might choose to or it is added in, but we never had to & thought we might upset anyone by doing so.  It’s accepted by everyone and understood.  It really does take the pressure off what to pay who & how much & also makes them seem more happy because there is no competition for wages.  Sometimes, they do make up for it by adding a service fee to your bill but you never have to remember to drop a tip at the bar.  Hospitality is there forte!

Example 2.  They are very helpful to foreigners.

We’ll be looking at a subway map, and someone will come right up to us, ask us if we need help (in the best English they can), sometimes give their name, sometimes a business card, and mostly can help give us the directions.  If they don’t know the area, they will gladly ask.  Even in the areas where there was absolutely NO english speakers or signs, people would help by pointing.  Even the bus driver told us when to get off the bus knowing no english at all!

For example, our 1st day in Seoul, after NO luck with 2 cabs & asking a few non-english speakers, we asked a kind baker on his way home from the subway terminal if he could point us in the right direction to our hotel.  He actually personally took us there himself!  How grateful we were to him & how kind he was!!! The next day on our way to the Seoul City Tour Bus, we were in the station & smelled the baked bread & thought that we should try to find the kind baker who helped us the nite before.  Just as we were walking in, Ryan saw him coming up the stairs!!!  Good thing Ry was paying attention because both of us had forgotten his name, which is Lee Chang Yong (1st name Chang-Yong, last name Lee).  We had some very tasty pastries there before our tour & he gave us a loaf of wheat, green tea to take home “on the house” which we ate gladly for breakfast the next 3 mornings.  Every day after that we came back to the bakery to visit him & everyday he gave away to us something yummy to eat! 

Also on our 3rd & final nite here, a man named Taig-Young, who we met on the plane to Seoul reconnected with us & met us at our hotel & took us to a very nice place that only serves monk-style, vegan, organic, herbal remedy food!  This was before he knew we were Buddhists!!! but only knew we were vegetarian.  How PERFECT!  He also gave us a beautiful gift of classical korean string music <the instrument you play on the floor which I LOVE!> which he had bought at a book store along with “Tuesdays with Morrie” for himself.  He most generously paid for our dinner as well!  What a perfect ending to our perfect stay in Korea!!!