Japan, South Korea and Mongolia 2026

Sukhbaatar Square Parliament building Chinggis Khaan statue at the parliament building National state Academy of opera and ballet Palace of culture National Museum of Mongolia Chinggis Khaan The last King and Queen of Mongolia, both of whom died in the early 1920s. The deel is the traditional men’s garment and is still worn today. Historic photo of women milking mares Choijin Lama Temple Museum State Department Store, founded 1921 Temun Ekh Ensemble Cultural Show It has been astounding to see all the people wearing their traditional Mongolian dress during this Naadam celebration Traditional ways still meet the modern life here: as we were walking back to the hotel, this man, wearing a traditional deelwent galloping past us on the sidewalk.

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Last night, we made a decision: instead of beating it around again this morning and trying see more sights, we decided to stay close to the hotel until check-out time and relax for the morning. The sights of yesterday gave us a good idea of Jeju, and we were content to leave it at that.  We still got up by 7AM, after the first good night’s rest in several days.  We did a 4KM walk along the waterfront, enjoyed the hotel’s top notch breakfast, and sat by the pool for an hour.  The hotel allowed us to extend our check-out time, from 11AM to noon, for the cool sum of 22,000 won ($21 CAD), and we maxed out that extra hour to the last minute. At high noon, we called an Uber and were at the pick-up point for the convenient coach to the Jeju Airport soon after.   The coach ride took just an hour. We got a bite to eat at the insanely busy and crowded Jeju Airport, checked in for the flight, and then spent an hour in the Korean Airlines Lounge before our short flight to Cheong...