Korea Foundation Day

Last Monday (October 3rd) was a holiday for us here. National Foundation Day doesn't really mean anything to us except a day off work. And we made good use of our 4-day weekend.

On Saturday, after a nice morning of sleeping in we took the dog and headed for the mountain. 

She fit nicely in Taylor's backpack.

We stopped in Gangnam (where Dr. Fish is)  for breakfast at Butterfinger Pancakes- delish! There was a 45 minute wait, so we go the dog out of the bag to walk her around but it was kind of chilly and she started shivering. Good thing we brought her blanket.

Previous to this day, I (Ashley) had been on a detox/cleanse. No wheat, no gluten, no dairy. Pretty much just fruits, vegetables, rice, olive oil, vinegar, and chicken or fish. I really could live by that lifestyle- except for my love/addiction of sweets. I had already been doing my cleanse for almost 2 weeks and decided to reintroduce some things. So we ordered the chocolate chocolate chip pancake with cookies and cream and vanilla ice cream and fudge on top. Wow. Bad idea right before you go on a hike and right after your body has been cleansed of all that filth. I quickly began to regret that decision.

We made it to the mountain and began our hike. Mount Umyeonsan is a nice retreat from the business of Seoul. It's nestled right in the heart of the city, but there are plenty of trees and greenery to block the sight/noise of all the busyness.

As always, the stairs for hiking.

 We stopped halfway up- Taylor to play on the exercise equipment, me to lay down because I was starting to feel sick.

 The whole reason I started this detox is because I've been having problems with my health since last Spring. I began doing research into gluten intolerance and thought that might be what I was suffering from. It was worth a try. So I went off everything gluten for awhile. I should not so quickly have reintroduced it into my life. Maybe it was the gluten in the pancakes; maybe it was a sugar overload- I'm not sure, but I do know the pain was intense!

no more gluten for me :(

We finally made it to the top and got a nice view of the city. Check out the intense excercisers in the video above. This is not unusual to find in Korea!

 

I felt sick the whole way down and pretty much the rest of the night. Note to all: when going off a fast/detox/cleanse, do it slowly. Don't quickly reintroduce all the bad stuff. In fact, continue to avoid if possible. Otherwise, your body will hate you and strongly react. 

feeling sick

Moral of the day: treat your body right so it will be nice to you.

Banpo Bridge at sunset.

dirty puppy got a bath

On Monday, the actual holiday, we went to the Han River Park, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from our apartment. We love being so close to the river. We had a picnic and read our books by the water. People were flying kites, we had our books, lattes from Starbucks, all was well. 'Twas a beautiful day!