Next destination... Korea

Would you like a free tour or a free hotel? With only 12 hours to spend in my newest country, #19, I was very very sad. But are you kidding me, a hotel? Of course I wanted the tour! Flying from the KotaKinabaloo airport was a 6 hour flight to korea, But I only remember about 30 minutes of it. Those few minutes were spent dreaming about what my 12 hours would be spend like. My guess of seaweed, kimchi, rice, and and a camera staring me in the face was not far off. We were met at the airport with a big banner, traditional rice cakes, and the best oranges I have had in along time! Next I had to make a decision. How much money should I exchange, or should I do any at all? A little voice in my head kept saying "you know you never by trinkets anyway"! Any decision is hard when you are on jet lag and this one felt like I was deciding what do for me carrier. So in my pocket eventually went 40,000 Wons ( it is not as nice as it sounds). With that all taken care of I hopped on the bus with 40 other people and headed to Seoul. I so badly wanted to stay awake and watch the country side, but sleep succeeded in the battle of endurance. When the bus stopped I jerked awake, similar to the one when you wake up without an alarm clock and relies you were left behind. We stopped at couple of the typical tourist spots and watched asians do what they do best (take pictures). They even had special spot marked out that said "Photo Spot". Normally I see parents taking pictures of their kids at these monuments, but this time it was a little kid taking a pictures of her parents. After the sight seeing we did some quick shopping (where I spent all my money) and then went for lunch. Mmmm… was it ever good! We all filed through the narrow streets and up some steps into a traditional Korean restaurant and sat on the floor around these tables that were only about 1 foot off the ground.They served us rice that were mixed with vegetables and seaweed. It came out sizzling in a big bowl that had been resting on the hot flames. Before I stirred my rice I bowed my head to thank God for all His blessings. I evidently spent the right amount time praying because my rice had become perfectly crispy brown, just how I like it! Oh, and just for your information I did eat every last gain of rice with my chopsticks! Before driving back to the airport we begged our tour guides to take us to a place to get seaweed. We completely drained the nearest store out of the seasoned seaweed. I still wonder what they thought of us crazy seaweed eating tourists. So with rice in our bellies, camera cards full, wallets empty, and bags of seaweed we piled onto the plane just grateful for a place to sleep.