My birthday: an evening with my girlfriend, steak at VIPS, roses, a love motel, and my first bath in almost a year . . . oh baby!

Last week I had my 35th birthday. It's the fifth birthday I've had in Korea and it was the best one so far.

Julianne and I headed out to dinner . . . and to 'get my birthday present' as Julianne put it. I had no idea what she was planning.

To mark the occasion I brought along my camera . . .

Julianne looking beautiful . . .

Sun setting as the taxi driver flies over a bridge . . .

And then we arrived at VIPS.

Julianne and I ordered steak dinners. You also get access to the salad buffet . . .

I was trying to order in Korean and our waiter, a guy in his early 20s, told me he could speak English. Okay . . . thing is, if you don't know what a "potato" is when I'm telling you my side dish selections you might not want to say that . . . lol.

Just for fun I put my camera on the table with the timer on and took some random shots . . .

Steak . . . for $32.00 not bad.

Apparently Julianne likes to put a lot of cherries on her ice cream . . . lol. I went for chocolate syrup.

After VIPS Julianne got us into a taxi and took me to find my present . . . a love motel? Interesting . . . hehe.

The hallways in these places always make me laugh.

Julianne is such a romantic--I had no idea! She put rose petals all over the bed, and had a dozen roses for me too. Wow . . .

I really liked the backless couch in front of the bed. I considered posing "George-style" (think Seignfeld) but forgot to do it later.

Behind the bed were these cool screens that were also back lit.

Most love motels that charge more than 50 or 60 for a night have a big screen TV . . .

. . . Internet . . .

and other amenities like a heated toilet seat and bidet rig . . .

and the piece de resistance: A JACUZZI BATH TUB!!! Oh baby . . . !

Pretty much every foreign teacher that comes to Korea finds themselves without a bathtub in their apartment. It's something that, if you like to take baths, really sucks. I like baths. After being on my feet all day teaching, or walking a lot, it's nice to have a good hot soak.

There are only two places a teacher can generally find a bath in Korea: a love motel, or a public bath house.

Let's just say it was a little surreal to find myself able to take a long hot soak on my birthday--Julianne's surprise was awesome.

In the corner next to the tub was also a shower.

Back in the bedroom I noticed the funky psychedelic multi-color glowing light in the ceiling above the bed . . . lol.

There was one in the jacuzzi tub room too . . . .

Let's just say that Julianne's plan for my birthday really surprised me--and I'm NOT easy to surprise.

I'll finish this post with a pic that I really like because of the shadows and lighting . . .

Not a bad looking ol' geezer for 35, eh?

J