Aug
03
Ok, so a ton of time has passed since I last blogged. It couldn't be helped though. Last week I came down with....the sickness, oh the sickness. I haven't been so sick in a long time. It started Friday, but I didn't know it then. I was very tired all day, and felt just...off. Then Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty bad. I thought I was just tired at first, but as the day went on I felt worse and worse. Before I knew it, my throat was really sore and swollen, my muscles ached, I was exhausted, and I had a fever. We were out in the city and it was too late to see a doctor, but Hisung's mom works for a medical clinic and she was able to bring me home 2 days worth of antibiotics. Thank goodness!We were supposed to leave on our trip on Sunday, but I was in no condition to travel. On Monday I saw a doctor. We went in and put my name on the sign in board and the doctor saw me very quickly. I went in and they had me sit in what looked like a dental chair with lots of scary looking metal instruments on a table next to it. When I sat down I wasn't sure if they were just going to look at my throat, or tear my tonsils out medieval style. So the doctor had me open up and she looked at the mess that was my throat. I was feeling better by that time, and my fever was gone. I was hoping she would just look at me and give me a prescription. Instead, she brought out a long metal instrument and proceeded to try and shove it down my throat. It was about that time my fight or flight instinct kicked into overdrive, and after my eyes turned the size of dinner plates I jumped out of that seat faster than a frog in a frying pan. Hisung tried to get me to sit back down but there was no getting me back in that torture chair for sure. The doctor said it was ok and she would just give me medication.
As soon as she motioned to the door I said thank you and I was so out of there. It was very nice of her to see me, since I am in a foreign country, don't speak the language, and have absolutely no insurance at all. I really am grateful to her, yet at the same time, I never want to get sick in a foreign country again. Doctor's are scary enough in the states, where you're used to their tools and speak the same language.
She gave me 5 days worth of medicine, 4 pills, 3 times a day after meals. After we left there, it was back home to pack and get on the road. I'll talk about the trip more later. First I have to update the rest of our week in Seoul. I believe I stopped right at Gyeongbok Palace. So here's that very busy day for you all.
We headed over to the palace and it was a very hot and sunny day. I wore a comfy cotton dress and it was perfect. Cool as a cucumber this time. So we got there and Hisung wanted me to take a very touristy picture by standing up on the steps with the guards. I was reluctant at first, but eventually I embraced my inner tourist.
Atten hut boys, atten hut.
The palace was beautiful. Huge, and beautiful. All the buildings have this type of design under the roof. They're so gorgeous and full of detail. It's breathtaking.
Once we entered we joined a tour group led by a woman wearing a light cotton hanbok (a traditional Korean dress) who was very knowledgeable and quite funny! She told us how the walkway is separated in three parts, and that the middle part is only for the king to walk. If anyone even accidentally stepped on the king's path, they were spanked with a wooden instrument about 180 times. She said that now we're here as tourists, and we can walk on the king's path all we want, and no one will spank us. hahahaha!
This palace, along with other sites in the city, are really interesting to see. They're so old, unchanged by time (except for the renovations and such). They're quiet, save for the tourists, full of green scenery, and very still. Outside is a modern bustling concrete metropolis, noisy, and ever changing. It's so different to my western eyes, but very interesting.
I seriously took an obscene amount of pictures in this place. I could never hope to show you many of them here. It takes several minutes for each picture to upload on the blog. Plus, I took some panoramas, but I will have to wait until I get home to stitch them together. So I'll just show you a bunch of them, with only very small explanations, if any.
Here's the king's throne.
Ok, I'm sorry, I have to cut this post off prematurely. My pictures have stopped uploading to blogger for some reason. It's taking ten minutes for each one, and I've tried the same picture 4 times now and it still won't upload. I can't waste my day waiting for these babies. I'm sorry. I'll have to update more later. :( More is coming though, I promise!
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