Pyeongtaek Port Boat Tour

Little A, Monster and I were able to take a boat tour along the Pyeongtaek Harbor!  The best part was that it was free!  A friend posted about an organization, PIEF (Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation), that does free tours for foreigners.  I signed up for the next tour and was lucky to get a spot on the tour!  The tours are first come first serve with limited spots.  I originally was on the waiting list, but the night before I got a phone call saying someone dropped out and I was the next one in line

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M&M and Big Sis already had summer plans, so I loaded Monster and Little A in the car and headed over to the PIEF office.  Once we got to the office, we got on a big bus that took us to the harbor.  While we were driving to the Harbor, a tour guide was giving explanations of the area, history and culture.  

We got to the Harbor and boarded a medium sized boat.  After a brief history lesson on the harbor and port, they let us go about the boat and see all the sights of the harbor.  

It was a cloudy and windy day, so the sky was all foggy, but we still loved seeing the different cranes and the boats in the water.  Monster loved all the boats and would yell and point every time we passes a crane.

While touring the harbor we saw so many cargo hold, gigantic cranes, auto ports filled with hundreds of brand new cars waiting to be shipped out for sale, a huge gorgeous bridge, boats, and so much more.

After about an hour on the boat we made it back to the dock.  Our next destination was the Pyeongtaek Marine Center.  At the top of this building is a huge observatory that overlooks the harbor.  The windows were open and just the right size for Monster, so I was super paranoid that he would fall out a window, so we didn't stay very long.

Part of the tour included a cultural immersion for lunch.  We stopped at a Korean restaurant for the traditional shabu shabu dish.

Shabu Shabu is a huge pot that sits on a burner filled with broth and provides you with a three course meal.  You start the first course of the meal by having a plate of vegetables and meat on the side.  When the broth is hot enough you drop in the vegetables and eat them all up, then you put the thin meat slices in one at a time and only for a few seconds, until cooked.  Little A loved the meat and pretty much ate the whole plate.

Monster, on the other hand, just liked to try to spear it with one chopstick.  He didn't like any part of the meal and was done after about 30 seconds.  Unfortunately for me, this three course meal takes about an hour to eat, and since we were here with a huge group, I had to tough it out and let chopsticks become a toy and weapon as he would throw them at me and Little A, and the person next to us, and behind him, and the waiter walking by...

I really really enjoyed the food and the experience of eating Shabu shabu.  I thought it was delicious and a fun experience, however, I advise parents with small children to avoid this long traditional meal, as the kids might not make it through the meal because you might throw them in the pot.