Monday, June 15

I was on my own in Seoul today. Well, at least after lunch. Chris and Laura took me to a place with special shabu-shabu, which is a lot like Chinese hot pot. As with pretty much all food here, it was delicious. In fact, it had 3 stages of deliciousness, each one enhancing the broth further.



I spent the day at Gyeongbokgung Palace and the National Folk Museum of Korea. The last English tour of the palace was at 3:30 and I arrived around 3:45. Instead of checking out the palace museum, a separate building dedicated to the palace history, I decided to try and catch up with the tour.

Luckily I was able to find them in time to catch the last 15 minutes or so. The palace itself was astonishing. Within it are all of these sub-palaces (like guest houses, gardens, and entertainment pavilions), which I guess are not sub-palaces at all. They are fancy, though. The sheer space is magnificent, especially contrasted with the cramped bustle of the surrounding city. For example, the main throne room is surrounded by a courtyard the size of a football field. The tour guide told a funny story about one of the kings. Apparently this dynasty is famous for keeping incredible records of everything that happened, contained in a huge volume that is now a national treasure. The king, however, did not treasure being followed around all the time by scribes who chronicled his every move. According to one account, the king went out hunting one day and tumbled off of his horse. Completely embarrassed, he told his guard that this incident should be stricken from the official records. In the historical documents there is an entry that reads something like "king fell from horse hunting. was instructed not to write this down. no serious injuries to his highness."

(big courtyard)

(these stones tell the aristocracy where to stand by station)


(entrance. guards!)


(statues all over the place... palace)


(the throne room)


(I don't know what this is)


(some kind of different building, mysterious!)

After wandering around the palace, I checked out the folk museum. Finding the museum was an accident, and I didn't know it would close 30 minutes after I went in. Though, I should have since Laura told me and I forgot. There ere some pretty cool old tools and clothes that impressed me given the time period they were from. Around the outside of the museum were little mock villages with guardian statues, gardens, and graveyards. The coolest thing about the museum was actually outside. They had a circle of statues representing the zodiac animals as anthropomorphic Korean warriors. Perhaps I am just easy to please by things that look like they could be out of a comic book or something.

(village guardians)

(zodiac statues, nice!)

(they form a ring... of destiny?)

Random comment: Korea is a land of intimidating crosswalks.

Sunday, June 14

Sunday we woke up late and got lunch in Seoul. We ordered bulgogi (shown), bibimbap, and cold noodles, all delicious.



We also saw this Korean Starbucks.



In the afternoon we met friends of C&L for a baseball game. The LG Twins were playing the SK Wyverns. We rooted for the Twins since they were home team. A Korean baseball game is unlike those in the states. Everybody in the crowd has these balloon sticks that make noise when you hit them together. For the entirety of the game the crowd unleashes elaborate cheers of thunderous clapping in a sea of pulsating red balloon sticks. It is something to behold, and expound upon colorfully. There is even a guy on a stage in the bleachers who dances around and enthusiatically demonstrates what to cheer and to what rhythm and motion. Oh, and he has backup dancers. This game had a Hello Kitty mascot, but I think it was for a special occasion. Because she was annoying, it was especially funny when one of the players on the team punched her head off instead of giving her a high five when leaving the field.



Next, one of the Koreans in our group, June, showed us to a good "meat place," which meant primo barbeque. No complaints from this department. He even negotiated free side dishes and some beer for us in return for not going to the restuarant across the street!




Last of all we headed over to have a final drink. Laura wanted to pose with the drink.

Saturday, June 13

I arrived in Seoul Saturday night and took a bus from the airport to Beomgye neighborhood in Angyang. The bus ride was odd because it was full and populated only by me, one other man, and a bunch of chatty teenage girls. The bus driver gave a short speech and bowed to us before we set out. Of course I have no idea what he said. It is a good thing I ened up on the bus to Anyang and not some class field trip. It was exciting to see Chris and Laura again. No awkward social readjustment here. We hung out like no time had passed since last we met.

C&L took me to a cool barbeque place. The waitress corrected Chris's meat-cutting technique, but not mine, so I felt like a pro and made sure to rub it in. It was at this dinner that I had my first taste of soju. It tastes a little like tequila or a sweet vodka, and has a nefarious habit of sneaking up on you. One interesting thing about most restaurants in Seoul, before I continue, is that you summon waiters by pressing a button. They are totally on demand. It is brilliant.



After barbeque, we went to a bar for drinks. On the way there, Chris warned me against establishments with 2 barber poles outside. "One pole means they cut hair. Two means they provide intimate massage," he told me. The interesting thing about these places is not the happy ending or even the double barber pole, but rather their prevalence. There are more of these places in Seoul than there are Dunken Donuts in New England. Don't worry, we steered clear.

We ended up drinking beer at this bar where the owner really likes to play Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson concert videos on a big projection screen. After the bar, we went to a loungy restaurant to get fruity soju drinks. At this point we decided to go to noraebang (singing room), which is like Korean kareoke. On the way we ran into a rabbit vendor who doesn't care if you play with the rabbits.



At noraebang, Chris and I did a lively rendition of Yellow Submarine. Laura tore down the ouse with Zombie by The Cranberries. At this point we were really sloshed and tired, so we went home to C&L's apartment.

Friday, June 12

Just landed in Tokyo. The flight over was long, but comfortable. I pretty much had a whole row of seats to myself. The other guy sitting there kept getting up and changing seats. He didn't mind that I took his window seat that made sleeping easier. I also got to watch the approach and landing. Earlier in the flight I snapped some cool pictures over a very frozen Hudson Bay.



The temperature at our cruising altitude was around -70F, which is crazy cold. The final descent was fun. Got to see a lot of coast line, and very organized looking crop fields. There was also a surprising number of golf courses, some even neighboring each other. The coolest thing was this giant, ostensibly religious statue. I didn't get a picture fast enough, because the plane was turning, but it was at least 5 stories tall.



Going through security was kind of funny. I am used to a really strict system, so I started taking off my shoes, then I realized no one else was. They didn't even care that I accidentally took my keys through the metal detector. The flight to Seoul leaves in 2 hours. I think I'll try to do some reading.

Introduction

In June 2009, I indeed took a trip to South Korea to visit my friends Chris McCoy and Laura Coco. They had been teaching English there for several months, and not only was this a great opportunity to see Korea with some local support, it was damn well time to see them again and catch up. If you are interested in their experiences in Korea you can check out their blog, McCoKorea. It is thrilling.


Over the next view days, I will be posting updates adapted from journal entries written by me during the trip. Sometimes these entries would pile up over multiple days , and often I would leave myself notes to elaborate later. It follows that some of these posts may contain confusing tenses or references to things or people you might not be familiar with. I will try to add extra explanation, and edit where needed. Hopefully the result will be a coherent and somewhat entertaining account, emphasis on the somewhat. I might need a tasty sports beverage for this.