Fall in Korea is awesome.  It drags on from September through November.  In fact, we only just turned the heat on our lower floor at the beginning of the month, and its really only in the evening.  Outside is warm during the day and cold overnight, plus lots of sunny days!  It’s a pretty dry time of year, but so pleasant. The maples turn amazing fiery colors, the gingkoes are bright yellow, and the chestnuts are pretty and orange. Zoe, Avi and I quite enjoy our daily bike ride onto base through all the crunchy leaves; it’s so nice to be outside now!

Last weekend we took a day trip down to a large regional temple called Magoksa. It’s in a beautiful little valley along a river that is auspiciously shaped like a yin yang. The maples were super pretty, and we all enjoyed a moment in the large temple.  Zoe and Avi spent time building some stone towers and we stopped for a snack in  the crisp air.

This weekend we (plus one, as Zoe’s friend is sleeping over) joined a tour that the local city of Pyeongtaek offered free to show military people around the local sites.  We stopped at a shrine to see the wooden printing blocks from a famous Chosen-era government official – from 600 years ago.  After that we visited a greenhouse tomato farm to pick our own!  Then, it was lunch at a local restaurant followed by pottery crafting at the Woodtali cultural center.  From there we drove a bit to the Pyeongtaek lake to walk along the boardwalk and then see a great traditional Korean percussion show.  The kids loved it!