Stapleton Travel Blog

We are on our way to our latest adventure, the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. Leaving from Cusco we’ll hike for 5 days through the Andes to get to the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.  The biggest challenge is the altitude and elevation.  The trail begins at an elevation of 9000 ft, drops to 8366 ft  and peaks at 13750 ft ominously known as “Dead Woman’s Pass”.  Tom and I believe we’re ready for the challenge.

We’ve trained by hiking Mount Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap several times along with our usual hikes in the South Mountain and Watchung Reservations.  We also visited our doctor and have medication to help with the potential altitude sickness.  We’ll update the blog as we can along the way.  Wish us well!

Today we visited the massive War Museum that is located a few blocks from where we were staying.  There were many exhibits that showed their appreciation to all the countries that helped them during the Korean War.  Additionally, it showed all the politics that caused this war to happen in the first place.  Very sad.

After this we went back down to Itaewan district for an early dinner before the crowds showed up.

Tomorrow’s our last day.  We don’t have much planned. We are going to the Myeongdong district to look around and then we will meet up with John, Sun Young and Alex for some local Korean BBQ.

 

 

Today we visited the main palace (Geongbokgung) of the Joseon Dynasty.  This palace was bigger than the other palaces we visited and had some impressive views as well.

There was a group of small statues near the folk museum where you could find what animal is associated with the year that you were born in the Chinese Zodiac calendar.  Beth and Matt were the “year of the pig”.  I was the “year of the monkey”!  Maybe that’s why I like bananas so much.

After that we explored more back alleys in the Insadong district.  It’s amazing how many restaurant/tea houses are tucked away down these tiny alleyways in Seoul.

At night, we visited the North Seoul tower which gave us impressive views of Seoul at night.  After that we went back to Itaewon district behind the Hamilton hotel to get a burger.  The amount of watering holes in that area was amazing.

 

On Monday, Matt had an afternoon visit with a HOLT counselor (Esther) in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, we did  USO tour of the DMZ & JSA (Joint Security Area).  First stop was the refurbished (last stop in South Korea) Dorasan train station.  The tracks continue into North Korea but no trains travel there anymore.  They used to have some freight trains travel into North Korea but that stopped in 2008.

Next stop was the observatory where you can see North Korea beyond the demarcation line (DMZ). North Korea plays propaganda on their speakers and South Korea plays music (as can be heard on the video below).

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South Korea found 4 tunnels that were dug by the North Koreans.  We were able to enter one of them (no pictures allowed) and go up to the North Korean border underground where the tunnel has been plugged up.  There are supposedly many more tunnels that they have not found.  

Lastly we went to the JSA and Freedom House where we crossed over into North Korea in one of the blue houses.  The demarcation line is the speaker phones on the conference table desk in the picture below.

In the distance, you can see a North Korean soldier standing on the steps off to the left.  There are usually two soldiers standing guard there.  They call them “Bob and Steve”.

 

 

 

Today we met our guide (Lee) who gave us a tour of Unhyeongung Palace and Bukchon Hanok village (traditional Korean homes built in 1930’s).  It was fun exploring the back alleys.

For lunch we had Korean Ginseng Soup which is a small chicken cooked with rice inside a stone pot of soup. I need to work on my chop stick skills.

At night, we made our way down to John and Sun Young’s apartment. Alex and Brian were also there as well as two dogs they have which they adopted which were brothers.  They call them “Tom and Jerry”!

 

Sun Young made us a wonderful meal where we got to taste some more Korean food that we haven’t had yet.  It was a great visit with a lot of laughs.

On Friday night, we had dinner at a small South African place down one of the many back streets of Seoul in the more westernized Itaewon district.

On the way back, we walked past the Korean War Memorial.  We have been fortunate that the weather is around 30- 40 degrees so far, so walking around the city has been enjoyable.

On Saturday, we strolled along the “river walk” in the center of Seoul and had lunch at one of the street vendors in the Gwangjang market.

After lunch, Matt met up with his cousin Brian Donnelly as Tom and I met with our  guide who gave us a tour of the Naksan “City Wall”.  We were pretty tired at that point but the guide (Mr Ho Park) was very informative.  We saw and learned a lot from him on that short 2 hour tour.

 

 

Tom, Beth and Matt traveled from JFK airport in NY to Incheon Airport in Seoul on Wednesday/Thursday (we lost a day in the process).  The flight was 13.5 hours on the largest plane any of us have traveled on.  It was an airbus with 2 levels and 10 seats across and a pretty comfortable flight.

We’re staying in an apartment in a high rise building we booked through Airbnb.  Our host is a lovely woman who has been really helpful and even met us at the bus stop to walk us to the apartment.

We planned a light day for our first full day in Seoul, didn’t want to over do it because of our jet lag, and went to the Changdeokgung Palace and Secret Garden.  The palace and gardens date back to the 14th century and were built by the Joseon Dynasty which was the last royal dynasty in Korea.

The Secret Gardens are also known as the Forbidden Gardens as only the royal family and their guests are permitted entrance.  Even today you can not tour the gardens without a guide.  We had a beautiful day with the temperatures in the low to mid 40’s.  It was clear that in the warmer months the gardens would be amazing but it’s a little dreary in the winter.  The pond below is said to be in the shape of the Korean peninsula.

We had lunch near the palace and had bibimbap, a mixed rice dish and seafood pancakes.  The we’re both delicious but the bibimbap was very spicy!

 

We arrived in Santiago too late yesterday to attend the special Pilgrim’s mass so we went today.  We arrived early to get good seats as the church fills up fast.  The highlight was the swinging of the giant incense burner called the Botafumeiro. It’s ironic that it’s so popular with pilgrims because it was originally used to fumigate the sweaty and possibly disease ridden pilgrims.

To wrap up our final post we’d like to thank everyone who provided the help, support, prayers and encouragement that made our journey not only possible but successful. We really loved sharing this with all of you.  Your comments and questions were eagerly anticipated and much appreciated.

Mucha gracias!

Beth & Tom

 

We’re really here! 40 days and 500 miles and we have the certificates to prove it.  This has been an amazing journey and we’ve been very blessed along the way.  We’ve met terrific people, had beautiful weather and experienced the best of Spain.

Today started with another beautiful sunrise and a 20 k walk into Santiago.

We stopped first at the holy door that is only open every 10 years.  The door leads into the Cathedral behind the alter and then to the resting place of Saint James.

We then made our way to the peregrino office to get our Compostello certificate.

Finally, we explored around the Cathedral.

Tonight we’ll look for a nice restaurant without a dress code to celebrate Tom’s birthday. 🙂

Camino Fun Fact:

The certificate received for walking the final 100 k to Santiago is said to document the forgiveness of all sins.  We’re not sure if this is just retroactive or includes future transgressions.

 

Due to rain and other technical difficulties the blog is suspended tonight.

Santiago tomorrow.