Tales of my Journey: Year 2012 Review Part 1

Every time I go over my photo gallery, I can't help myself but be thankful to God. He made year 2012 a great year for me and my family. He showed me His awesome wonder by letting me find ways even when there seemed to be no way, by giving me strength when I felt like giving up, and showing me light when everything seemed to be so dark.
Last year, I met and made a lot of friends. Friends that came from different cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs. As my former student described them - international..hehe. I also did a lot of traveling with my lovey Hubby. We visited Jinhae in spring during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

We also visited Cheongdo during the Bull Fighting Festival with our Waegook Travel friends, where we watched Korean bull fighting. Then we went to the Cheongdo Wine Tunnel where I tried persimmon wine for the first time.

We visited Haeinsa Temple also. We wanted to see the Tripitaka Koreana. We saw them but we weren't allowed to take photos of them..:(...But they put a photo zone outside where visitors can take photos of themselves with the huge background photo showing the Tripitaka Koreana. That's where this photo was taken.

The next place we visited was the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). It is on the border of South and North Korea. We went to the Freedom Bridge, where we saw the old locomotive covered with bullet wholes. We were also able to go inside the 2nd and 3rd tunnels. The 2nd tunnel is in Gyeonggido and the 3rd tunnel is in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do. We also went to Dorasan Station, the Unification Observatory and the Peace Observatory. At the Peace observatory, we met a North Korean defector and our tour group had a question and answer with him.

We also went to the Yeosu Expo and saw exhibits from around the world. We actually went there twice. First, we took a day trip with Daegu Travel Club. And the 2nd time, we went there with our church. The Expo was a bit overrated but still pretty good.

The colorful Big O Show


This was a silo that was turned into a huge harp.

The view of the Expo Site and Odong-do as seen from the coffee shop on top of the hill.

The greatest trip we did was the Ulleungdo-Dokdo trip. Dokdo is a famous rocky island of South Korea. South Korea and Japan both claim ownership of the island. South Korea named it Dokdo ( Solitary Island). And the two main islets as Dongdo ( Eastern Island) and Seodo (Western Island). On the other hand, Japan named it Takeshima (Bamboo Island). And named the two main islets as Otokojima (Male Island) and Onnajima (Female Island). There are 90 rocks and reefs, which are believed to be formed from volcanic rocks during the Cenozoic era, more specifically 4.6-2.0 millions years ago.


Dokdo Island


Breaking dawn in Ulleungdo - Ready to go to Dokdo.

Our friend Tracy organized a trip to Andong during the Andong Mask Festival. We went there with some friends.Vince and I arrived there earlier than our friends and we decided to walk around our pension. The next day we went to Hahoe Village to see the traditional Mask Dance Performance and the hahoe Folk Village.