The first week we stay with Heewon's parents in Bun-dang, a suburb 45 minutes south of Seoul. During that time we attend church, . . .

. . visit Kyoung-Gi Museum, where we admire a rope-and-pulley contraption from the 16th century in working condition. . .

. . go to the beach at Tae-chon and . .

. .examine . .

. . sea life.

we go to Everland, an amusement park (more pics later) . .

. . take silly pictures of ourselves. . .

. . some handsome pictures. .

. . and have scrumptious meals with relatives, here with cousin Eun-Jong, and her mother, Eui-wha Imo.

On July 11th, we fly to wonderful Cheju Island off the south coast, the `Hawaii of Korea'.

Cheju is of volcanic origin, which creates a wonderfully bizarre coast line

the hexagonal columns are created when hot lava hits water and cools suddenly. The shapes remind me of the Devil's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

nearby is a replica of a Dutch ship, the Hamel, that foundered here in 1653. The captain remained in Korean captivity until he escaped 13 years later. His diaries were the first to give the West a glimpse of the Choson kingdom.

Cheju is known for its delicious citrus produce . . and its colorful legends:

like, Cheju's inhabitant are descended from three semi-gods, which are supposed to have emerged from the three holes in the ground in front of us. . .

in the 1700's, a Cheju official built this Buddhist shrine in honor of these gods. Nice silhouette, Peter.

as is Buddhist custom, you can burn incense in front of the shrine, and pray for something. It smells good, and Hannah wants to do it, until she is reminded that it is a Buddhist custom. . .

the forbidden door . .

on July 13th, we undertake an exhausting, but in the end exhilarating, 10-hour tour to the top of Mount Halla, the 1950-meter high volcano in the middle of the island.

(I did not bring the digital camera, so I am including this wonderful panorama shot found on an MIT student's web site)

On July 15th, we join a 3-day guided tour of Cheju. We meet fun people on the bus, including the Ahn family, who turn out to live in Lansdale, PA - 45 minutes from us. .

Here we are in a lovely Bonsai garden

Chris Ahn and Peter making funny faces

Peter in Blue

For two nights we stay in this unbelievable palace of a hotel, the Hyatt in Chungmun. The breakfast alone is worthy of royalty.

Peter provides the fountain for the hotel. . .

So we just paid for some cool horse back riding, and what do i get? . . .a yawn and a . . .

. . .a raspberry?. . . love you, too, Hannah

serves Hannah right: dancing car tires over her head :)

Look, Dad, no hands

next we visit these amazing rock formations. . .

. . .that just scream for artful posing

`Greek Gods'

`family overexposed'

`Untitled'

one more stop at the coastal point Seop-kyo-buri, where . .

Heewon and I are walking along the shore, while the kids have quite an `adventure`:

while walking (barefoot) to the edge of the water, a freakish wave swamps them. Hanging on to sharp rocks, they get banged up pretty badly. Here they are on the way back, wet and hurting, assisted by a tour guide. Virtually all the people on the bus help to get them dried and bandaged.

a few hours later they are all smiles again and say good-bye to Chris and Grace Ahn at the Cheju airport. We are flying to Ulsan.

Cheju island was cool.

in Ulsan we are hosted by Dr. Yoon, an ENT specialist, and his wife Hae-Su, wonderful and generous people. Here we are having fun in a `Norae-bang', a Karaoke bar.

It's Hannah's 16th birthday! To celebrate she'll get her ears pierced. . .

Because Ulsan is the capital of ship-building, we get a tour of the Hyundai Shipyards.

I am totally awed. Freighters, oil and gas tankers - they are building the biggest ships in the world here. Seeing the grand halls and massive pieces, I can't imagine the logistics to put this together. This is modern Korea.

And this is ancient Korea. Just an hour north of Ulsan is Kyoung-Ju, capital of Korea for a thousand years (50 BC-950 AD), now a UNESCO world heritage site.

This is the magnificent Bul-Guk-Sa temple, built in the 8th century

Mr Choi, our wonderful volunteer tour guide.

imagine, this stupa has stood at this site for 1250 years.

perhaps the most magnificent piece of art made in the first millenium AD. Called Sokkuram, this 10-feet tall Buddha statue is carved from one solid piece of granite. It is situated in a grotto high in the mountains above Bul-guk-sa. Because picture-taking is not allowed, this is a scan from a postcard.

This is even older. Called Chom-Song-Dae, it was built by the first queen of Korea (unified Shilla) in 634 AD. Observing the sun's shadow inside, people could tell the time of year, important for sowing and harvesting. The numbers of rings and stones are related to dynasties and zodiacs.

In this time period (5th and 6th century), the royals were buried in hill-tombs, such as this famous Chong-Ma tomb. Excavations have revealed an incredible wealth of artifacts, such as . .

this crown now displayed in the National Museum in Kyoung-Ju . . .(again, this is a scan of a postcard, because i was not allowed to take a picture)

and this embroidered saddle, from which the Chong-Ma (`flying dragon`) tomb takes its name (the name of the royalty buried here has not been determined)

back in present-day Kyoung-Ju, we enjoy lunch in the a traditional market place

this market place . .

. . is a colorful sight

Back in Seoul by July 21st, we visit with some special friends. Here is Mi-Ok, Heewon's best friend from college, now a professor for Korean as a Foreign Language.

Here is Yong-Hee, Heewon's eldest cousin, with her husband, son and daughter-in-law. Her half-sister remained in North Korea in 1947, when all the other relatives fled to the South. There has been no contact since then.

On July 22nd, we spend a wonderful day in Min-Sok-chon, the folk-village, where they try to preserve and present Korean traditions that are dying out elsewhere.

Here are the famous dancers, that twirl long ribbons with their head gear, accompanied by a variety of rhythm instruments.

Acrobats take the old game of see-saw to new heights. . .

and this high-rope artist has some spectators gasping.

Traditional farming houses . .

are just charming.

here we stand in front of the shrine to the `dutiful son' . .

peter has a green beard . . .haha

Finally, we had a lot of fun at Everland, once with . . .

. . Daniel and Yumi . .

whoa!!

aaah

Phew . . .

. . . and once with the Ahn family. . .haha. . this cool picture is taken in a reflective column. .

Thank you to Halmoni and Haraboji, thank you to sister Hee-Young, brother-in-law Il-Hwan, Chi-Yong, and Il_Hwan's parents, for your wonderful hospitality. We had a wonderful in time in Korea.