Pictures from the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul:

I have internet! I'll post more regularly from now on. Here are a couple pictures of Cheongju and one of the fortress, which is just on the outskirts of the city:

Exploration

Yesterday I went to the Sangdang Mountain Fortress, just inside the city limits of Cheongju, with two Australians I met through the gym. It was so nice to get away from the concrete and neon signs for an afternoon! We took the 4km walk along the fortress walls and enjoyed the views of the city and the local hills. I took some pictures and will get them up later this week.

After the walk, we settled in at one of the local restaurants. C and J don't speak any Korean and the few dishes that I know how to say weren't on the menu. Luckily there was a picture of the Korean style pancake on the wall and we opted to start with that. The pancake is made of a flour batter that binds spring onions, carrots, zucchini and squid. It's pretty good, especially when dipped in soy sauce. As usual, we were served several side dishes: kimchi, seaweed (very salty!), ferns, spinach and a few other things that I couldn't recognize. The vegetables side dishes are generally preserved via fermentation or pickling or are heavily marinated with garlic and other spices. The restaurant specialized in tofu, which we didn't realize until we noticed that they were making it right beside us. The owner brought us some freshly made tofu to try- it was still warm and had a creamy texture. Yum!