EAST ASIA
KOREA
The street where we live abounds with lovely gourmet coffee shops. Our day began with the breakfast special.
Fred met these Slovakian Olympic team members & coaches at our breakfast place. They had a 12-hour layover in Seoul on their way back to Europe from the Sydney games, where they had won the Gold Medal in Team Rowing. Very impressive for such a small country! They were pleased & proud.
Auto & train bridge spanning the wide Han River near the city center. When Fred was here in 1954, as a Soldier with the US Army, all the bridges were in the water -'pontoon bridges' carried only military traffic at that time. What a pleasure to see these gleaming structures today!
30 miles north of Seoul lie these bleak un-inhabited hills along the dreadful war zone. It's now called the de-militarized zone (DMZ), even though, on both sides, mighty military machines stand ready to do battle. Fred was here for a six-month tour of duty when he was 20. As a Demolition's Sergeant in the 25th infantry Division, he was responsible for the safe use of explosives & removal of mines.
Melody with our "military escort". These youthful American Sergeants, also heading to Camp Casey, came to our aid in Uijongbu, when we were trying to buy our train tickets. Few tourists take this detour.
New Millennium version of Camp Casey. The main Gate is presently a busy intersection, in a small city of shops, restaurants, & bars. The original version was all dirt roads and tents for living facilities, built by Fred's 65th Engineer Battalion, in addition to bridges & roads through these mountains.
JAPAN
Melody climbing Mt. Fuji.5th station elevation. About 7000 ft. above sea level. The autumn colors are dramatic against the black lava rock, amazing anything can grow there.
McDonald's in Kawaguchiko, Mt. Fuji Five Lakes District. No matter how they spell it, McDonald's can be counted on for clean restaurants & friendly staff.
We got to visit another of our favorite places while in Japan, Disneyland Tokyo. Melody would like to return in 2002 when they open a whole new theme park of the sea.
Young people are always feeding the pigeons by the fountain in Ueno Park. The scene was identical to a 1986 visit here, with son Chris.
Japan has some of the fastest trains in the world, but it still takes 90 minutes to go from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo, and it's very pricey!
Melody at our Japanese style Inn, where no shoes are allowed & beds are mats on the floor.