Crazy Weekend in Korea: Coda

So, we've finally gotten out of Japan. Now all we need to do is get back.

The view from our hotel room. Seoul is on the horizon.

It's Saturday afternoon. I've just checked my e-mail and found that, although things are as good as could be expected at work, there's trouble with our flights.

Namely, we might not have flights.


Apparently, there's a rule for Asiana Airlines that, if you don't show for the outward flight of your round-trip, you can't use the return tickets. Because we missed our flight on Friday, and bought a new one-way ticket for Saturday, the return leg flights on Sunday may be no good. This means that we'll have to buy tickets for the return flight as well.

I send a response asking for advice, and shoot one off to NeatTravel for good measure. NeatTravel sends an automated reply informing us that they "will be responding in as soon as 4 hours" which sounds to me like "don't hold your breath."

We stew in anxiety for a half an hour in our hotel room (which is inexplicably warmer than both the interior corridor and the air outside) before realizing that this is dumb and heading out to get an early dinner.

We end up at what appears to be a real life authentic Korean Barbecue. They put a braizer of glowing coals in the middle of the table, and you get to cook the meat right there. We order a few things semi-randomly from the menu, and end up with a pleasant assortment of salad, soup, vegetables, beef, and pork.

We all eat a tremendous amount (except for Leah, who sleeps through most of the meal sitting up in her chair) and feel much better afterwords.

We head back to the hotel room, but there's nothing more to learn. Progress at work has stalled, and there's no new word from the airlines.

So we head out and go exploring! First we swing by a strange looking sculpture that we can see from the window (and which we didn't get any better pictures of). It looks like a leaf ball with a bloby parachute, all in a hideous orange color.

A kind of map of where we walked.

So, leaving that behind, we head out toward the ocean. I've surmised from Google Earth that there's a giant tidal plane out in that direction, and I'm eager to see it, and maybe go walking out on the sand.

While passing the driving range, we stop a moment to ponder the function of this construction.

What is it? Why is it in the middle of nowhere?

At the time it seemed like a shuttle from nowhere to nowhere. After doing a bit of research later, it seems that this is, in fact, a magnetically levitated train. If we had known at the time, we might have detoured to take a ride. But then we might not have had time to find this (video through the link)!

The MagLev in action... it doesn't levitate very high off the rail.

No no... that's... that's the maglev again. I mean, you can see part of it in the picture but. What was really interesting was this!

So much concrete. Where can I buy tiles like this?

A huge plain of concrete tiles, stretching in both directions as far as we could see. It was rather surreal to be walking around here. Teddy loved it however.

Toddling forever

We also found a strange narrow little wooded area which began quite abruptly and ended in the same manner.

The threshold of the forest has never been so literal.

Leah was concerned that we were going to get lost in the forest, but as there was literally only one road, this turned out alright. There were also lots of spider webs strung across the path. Anna let me go first. The girls were keen on picking up the sea-shells and "apples" (fruits of some kind on the bushes), as well as sticks and random junk strewn on the side of the path. Immediately on exiting the "forest" Anna joined in, and picked this beautiful berry, which I wore behind my ear for the rest of the outing.

So very red

After walking down to the bridge, we took a short break, and then walked back. Looking this up later, I surmise that the pavement we were walking on is part of the airport drainage system. Why it is so very flat is an open question in my mind. Maybe this helps to prevent damage to the concrete during heavy rains?

Oh, you wanted a picture of the bridge? Here you go.

It was pretty dark by this point, and I couldn't help but notice this open door leading to a lit stairway, with strange noises issuing from within.

What's your deal staircase?

Here's a recording of the noises, in case you want something to haunt your nightmares. I mean, it sounds like a fan. Or a big blower. A large air handling unit that's being used to... shred sheet metal? Whoever is in charge of this machine (and I know you exist, because that door wasn't open when we came this way before) please fix it. Or, better yet, get someone else to fix it. You can't see it, but I'm actually on my knees as I typing this, sincerely asking you to solve this problem. Don't do it for me. Do it for the machines.

At this point, we were all pretty tired (sense a recurring theme for this trip?) so we sat around for a few hours and tried to go to sleep.

Anna watching Korean Dramas in both Korea and Korean. Legit!

The room was pretty warm, which we discovered was due in part to my mistaking the bathroom heater for an exhaust fan. I rigged up the room fan to suck in outside air and exhaust into the hallway, which helped somewhat. Teddy and I took a walk while the girls slept, and he fascinated himself with the mirrored elevator doors.

There appears to me four of me?

We returned to the room, and Teddy and I took a shower. The shower drain wasn't working very well, so I took it apart and discovered the trap was (you guessed it) clogged with hair (not shown). After fixing that we had a nice cool shower and went to sleep shortly afterword.

Sunday was actually pretty tame compared to the rest of the trip. We got up around 6:30, dressed, packed, and were out the door before seven. Took the shuttle bus to the airport and stood in line for check in hoping that we didn't have to buy new tickets.

We didn't.

We did, however, need to pay a "lap tax" for Teddy, since he didn't have a seat. Did that, showed Anna's papers, signed some more papers for the return trip, and went through security. Got some McDonnalds breakfast sandwiches and ate them while the kids play on playground in the terminal. Board the airplane.

A lovely little foam-puzzle cottage.
Asiana Airlines gave a pair of these (in many different varieties) to all the kids.

We're all seated in aisle seats, making a square. This makes it easy to get up and go to the bathroom, but hard to see out the window. Teddy is squirmy, so I pull up Cars 2 on the entertainment system. He's fascinated with the headphones, but I think I ended up watching more of it than he did. Just before the meal arrives Anna takes him, and he ends up falling asleep on her lap. Between her and the two boys, there's not much room left for her meal tray. I wish I had a picture, it was pretty funny looking.

After we got back to Nagoya it was another hour train ride back to the station, and a short walk back to the apartment. Anna picked up some to-go food from the convenience store on the way, and we all ate. Then it was a short drive to the grocery store.

From the Roof of the Supermarket
(Far right, elevator into the supermarket itself)

There's a parking lot on the roof of the supermarket. I wait there with Teddy (who is sound asleep) and drowse for an hour or so while Anna takes the girls.

It's a beautiful Summer Sunday, the red tape is behind us, and I can finally relax.

For about eighteen hours... then it's back to work to survey the damage from the accident on Friday.