Seeing Seoul...while fighting to keep our eyes open.

It's about 4am local time and it feels like I might be up and at 'em for the day.  To say that the time change is affecting us would be correct.  We fought through the fatigue yesterday that was trying to get me to go to bed at about 2pm.   Instead of giving in and hitting the sack, we ventured out and were able to hop aboard a Seoul City Bus Tour.  To say this city is huge would be an understatement.  It is a city like no other I have ever been to.  Sara and I were commenting to each other the other day as we walked around about how strange it feels to be in a place that feels like it is more technologically advanced that the US.  I didn't think that was possible, but believe me it is.  The subway system here is fantastic.  It's clean, it's very affordable, and it's easy to navigate (which is impressive as we don't know any Korean other than every once in awhile being able to muster up an inaudible "hello" or "thank you").

The bus tour highlighted one of the most unique aspects of Seoul, which would be the incredible history that is surrounded by a cutting edge and ever-developing mega-city.  There are any number of centuries old palaces mixed in seamlessly with skyscrapers and never ending shopping malls.  It's unique.  Although the tour was a good experience, the motion sickness we both felt along with the difficulty keeping our eyes opening along with the fact that we boarded a tour that we didn't plan on going on detracted from it a bit.  But we did get to see some things we know we want head back to. 

Speaking of shopping malls, they are unbelievable.  Our hotel (which allow me to reiterate how much we love this hotel) sits atop a very nice mall.  Malls here more resemble the mall we experienced in Dubai than the mall we experience at home.  What makes them different?  Each floor caters to a different person or interest.  For instance, the 4th floor of the mall that I am sitting 32 floors above as I type this is designed for kids.  It has toy stores, kid apparel and shoe stores, a play land area that looks like Camden is going to have a field day in and stores that you can buy strollers that more resemble Segways than they do the stroller we have in our garage at home.  The food court is sensory overload in the best way.  Yesterday when we went out in search of food we ended up at a Korean place and each enjoyed some local cuisine. 

Today we have every intention heading out and experiencing some of the places we saw yesterday.  Visiting the N Tower, exploring one of the palaces, doing our best to shop at some local stores in a search to find the perfect items that Camden can hang onto remind him of his Korean heritage.  After we conquer that, I am assuming, since it is not even 5am here that will come back to the hotel for a nap prior to going on a Korean Night Food Tour that we have read great things about.  The guided tour will lead us journey to experience the cities food up close and personal.  Hitting a number of restaurants and hopefully a street food vendor or two (although if you are taking bets at home, wouldn't bet on Sara partaking in any of that said street food, not really her style). 

For now, I am going to catch up on some TV on the Slingbox that we finally got to work, and I am going to take a look through the pictures we took yesterday of our little guy.  I'll report back sometime about how we are feeling.  I think it is setting in that as much fun as it was to meet him yesterday and as much as we can't wait for Monday to come, we are very nervous about the transition.  Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, remember when you asked us if there was anything you could do while we were gone (other than the challenging task of keeping Lleyton, Parker, and Addy in check), maybe you might consider padding our walls. 

He is a wild man. 

More to come...