Ah, so Katie and her dad and I went to South Korea. We went to Seoul, then Daejeon, then back to Seoul. (Pronounce it "soul," like "Angel is a vampire with a soul.") Our friend Anne, who once lived in Seoul, told us what we should do. That was nice of her.
So, after arriving in Seoul and taking no pictures, we jumped on the bullet train to Daejeon, where Melissa, Jin and Hayden live.
SO cute baby, covered in strawberry.
Melissa had been going to take us around her neighborhood for a walk, but the air quality was wretched. How wretched?
Well, I got this off of an air quality website. It reperesents, I dunno picograms of pollutants in each cubic metre of air. I think 300 is supposed to be bad. We were in Daejeon on April 1, and you can see that the reading was literally off the chart. Sick. It's called Yellow Dust, and it blows over from China. And it sucked. So we stayed inside.
And played with the baby! Yay! Hayden was just shockingly cute.
Here's Melissa's husband, Jin. He's completely enthralled with my Nintendo DS. We went out and got some Korean barbecue, called bulgogi (but I think we had pork, so I think then you call it samgyeopsal). I love Korean food. That green bottle on the left is soju, a 20% liquor that Koreans drink with everything. It tastes like watered-down vodka or rubbing alcohol. Not that I've ever drank rubbing alcohol, now. A-hem.
I'm very stupid and failed to take a picture of the food before we ate it. Oh, well. Just picture the meat cooking on that big metal thing. All the fat and grease runs down and drips into that little silver container on the right. Yummers. Jin liked my game. I think he was playing New Super Mario Bros.
There are Katie and her dad, Reed. Reed was right in love with the Cass, which is a local beer. Melissa and Hayden came to dinner, too. I just failed to take enough pictures. Then we went and had coffee. Then we went back to their place to....
Play with the baby! Yay!
It's Reed and Adam and Melissa and Hayden and Jin! I met Melissa in my undergraduate degree at MUN, and then she went away to teach English in Korea. That was, like, ten fucking years ago. Madness.
My, what fun!
Hayden wasn't very impressed by my camera. If you go by all the pictures Melissa puts up, you'd think all the kid did was smile and coo. I think it's because my camera is silver rather than black like Melissa's. And, you know, the three strange people manhandling her for a few hours. OH, so anyway, we watched... I forget what it's called. That moive about Matt Damon founding the CIA. The Good Shepherd? The Good Father? I forget. It was good, though.
Then Katie thought I was taking a picture of her and Hayden, but I was secretly taking a video. LOL.
YUM! We ate at Lotteria, a Japanese fast food chain that's been in South Korea since 1979. It's actually more popular than McDonald's. We saw posters for the Mega Big Paprika and couldn't resist. I had the Paprika Bacon Beef. (Paprika - the spice - is made from ground red peppers, and some countries, like South Korea, give the name to peppers in general.)
Our hotel (the Rainbow Hotel or Hotel Rainbow, depending on which sign you look at) was in the southern part of Central Seoul, near Sookmyung Women's University. As we walked up... hmmm... the main road (roads are not often named in Korea, which makes getting around more fun), we looked east and saw Namsan mountain, which sits smack in the middle of the city, with the N Seoul Tower sticking up out of it like a wee little CN Tower. We'll go there later and have a look.
Katie loved the little old man baby. I liked Ultraman. Have a good time!
FUN! Pay money to kick a soccer ball or hit a pad with a "Right Hook."
This is the old Seoul Station. It reminded me of home. I think it's a museum now.
This is the new Seoul Station, just to the left (south) of the old one. So modern and shiny. This is where we went to get on the bullet train to Daejeon to visit Melissa.
See? There's the new station on the left, with the old one closer. Oh, and there's Katie and her dad.
We managed to get across the street and get one more picture of the stations. Oooh.
Then we headed up the road to Namdaemun (the Great South Gate). Seoul used to be a big fortress, and this was the south gate. It was built in 1398, rebuilt in 1447 and renovated a bunch of times sicne then. It's old. Korea has a bunch of National Treasures, some of which you'll see when we go to the museum, but this big bastard is National Treasure #1.
Awesome. They have guards between 10am and 4pm. So if I was going to invade Seoul, I'd probably do it early in the morning or in the evening. Otherwise you'd have to deal with these guys. Note happy family on right.
You seriously don't want to mess with a guy carrying a trident. Hey, it just occured to me... Namdaemun is the name of the "Great South Gate." The Chinese word for great or big is "da", south is "nan" and gate is "men." So, in Chinese, the name would be Nandamen. That's awfully close to the Korean name. Oooh. Linguistics.
They change the guard every thirty minutes.
The guard gave his little wooden thing to the new guard.
I kind of wish I had a costume like this.
Ah, then we trotted across the street to Namdaemun Market, which has apparently been on the go since the 15th century. It was packed with people.
Yummy ginseng! Get it inya! It totally looks like alien embryos.
Then there was this poor bastard, all dressed up in his fancy gear... and a Groucho moustache and glasses. He was pimping the department store in front of which he was standing.
And we said, "We should take a picture of this for Faye." Faye is our friend, and she likes foolish pink things like these. My eyes hurt just looking at it.
Here's the new Seoul Post Office. It's not finished yet.
AHAHA! Ladybug... uh... I don' actually know what it was. They were spaced every few feet on one road we were walking down. They remind me of those things downtown in St. John's, especially on George Street, to which one used to tie horses (???). I just spent twenty minutes on the internets trying to figure out what they're called. Dammit. Anyway, these ones are cuter.
See? So cute.
Oh, yes, the big pelican that you can get in. These kids got in, so you can most likely guess what happened next.
Yup.
Not a big weenie, oh no.
OMG. Biggest scooter EVAR. It was bigger than a Smartcar.
Then we wanted to see Myeong-Dong Catholic Cathedral. Funniest thing: it was undergoing renovations, so they had it covered with a huge scaffold that was covered with a _picture_ of the cathedral! AHAHAHA! SO funny!
SEE? LOL! There's even a sky and clouds on the picture!
I liked this Jesus statue.
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!
He's sort of creepy up-close.
The picture even had a door on it! Like in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.
Inside was a typical Catholic church. It reminded me of St. Patrick's parish in St. John's, where I was baptized.
Outside there was a grotto for Mary and a little box that you could put votive candles in.
There's a statue of a girl praying to Mary, too.
Followed, of course, by grotesquely-disfigured mannequins in an underwear store.
Then we went up Namsan mountain to see the N Seoul Tower. It's sort of like the CN Tower, only not as big. Except it's on a mountain, so it's probably higher than the CN Tower. I dunno; go look it up on Wikipedia yourself.
So we went all the way up to the top of the N Seoul Tower. This is what Seoul looks like.
It sprawls.
Looking West. That's the big river, the Han River, that bisects the city. Han is the word for Korea. Like in Chinese, Korea is called "Han-Kuo." It's also my family name in Chinese: han = 韓.
Ooh, so long shadow.
More Seoul.
Katie!
On all the windows they said what was which way and how far.
Buenos Aires is that way.
Daejeon is only 141 klicks this way! Hi, Melissa! Hi, Jin! Hi, Hayden!
Katie liked the little baseball guy.
N Seoul Tower.
We got a silly picture done at this photo place, and Katie wanted to take pictures with the funny marshmallow thing.
My hair was so big!
I'm an artist. I can't believe nobody thought to take a picture of the sun through some trees before. I'm going to make, like, a million dollars.
These are watchfires. They're quite old.
We went up and down in a cable car.
Bye-bye, N Seoul Tower!
We were looking for soemthing to eat, and we found free hugs instead.
Such a lovely wall. Oh, we ended up eating at TGIFriday's. I ate chicken and shrimp, and I got SO FUCKING SICK. OMG. I was up half the night losing the contents of my stomach. Killer.
We went to the National Museum of Korea the next day.
Knives and swords.
More swords.
These are cutting edges for hoes.
Reed, Katie and a great big god-damned phallus.
Cool tiles.
The guards had the coolest uniforms and weapons.
I was only joking. That guy was just a mannequin. This was a cool little statue.
Great big tower thing. I forget what its story was. I'll try to remember later.
This is a stele. They're generally used as either grave-markers or to announce things like who passed their university exams (a long time ago).
Here's the tower again. It's kind of big.
You can't really tell, but this wall hanging was two stories tall.
Here's a buddha! There was a big group of foreign VIPs being escorted through the museum. Photography is usually not allowed inside, since these are national treasures, but the whole group was bristling with cameras, so I took some pictures, too.
This is a very famous and important statue, and I forget what it's called. It was in its own little room with just the one spotlight on it.
Katie and a gong!
Cool little statues of women.
I loved this guy.
These little frog guys were neat. Too bad I can only take crappy blurry pictures.
The big tower thing again. I wish I could remember what it was for. Maybe something to do with the Journey West?
There was a big huge pile of stairs, and we went up and there was a nice view of Namsan mountain and the N Seoul Tower. We're south, looking north.
Then we headed down to the Seoul Arts Centre (think Arts & Culture Centre, only for a city of 10 million) to get tickets to see a show. This is actually the National Centre for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.
The building with the big nipple on top is the Seoul Arts Centre.
I seriously have no idea.. oh, wait, I remember. The next day we went to the Demilitarized Zone. This whole trip was mad. This is a monument to people killed in the fighting between north and south.
This bridge goes to North Korea. For anyone who doesn't know, Korea is split between South Korea (prosperous, democratic) and North Korea (totalitarian, communist).
I find myself unable to recall why this bridge has a wall here, covered with flags and things.
A big bell. The whole area leading up to the DMZ (the Demilitarized Zone) is pretty desolate and barren.
There was a little museum that showed how the North Koreans had tried to dig a bunch of tunnels into South Korea to invade. In 1978, they dug what's called the Third Tunnel of Aggression.
Katie and a little cute guard.
Reed and Katie and the sculpture that signifies people trying to bring North and South Korea together again.
See, it's like a puzzle. There's a raised North on this side that matches with a depression on the other side, and vice versa. Oooh. Symbolism.
See the symbolism?
This is an observation post. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which is a shame since there was an awesome little scale model of the area and a big huge viewing window that looked out towards North Korea.
There's North Korea. And Katie. Hmmm. Now that I think about it, North Korea didn't look quite as imposing as it did in Team America: World Police. Huh.
Oooh. So scary North Korea. Those buildings are the Propaganda Village. It's basically an abandoned town. Weird.
No taking pictures past the photo line.
This is the tallest flagpole in the world. It's 160 meters tall. There's a North Korean flag at the top. Note imposing black color of pole.
Not the world's tallest flagpole. It has a South Korean flag on it. Note peaceful white color.
Dorasan Station. This is the last stop on the South Korean railway line, but all the stuff inside touts it as a symbol of the connection between North and South Korea. Whenever that connection is re-established.
Katie and Reed and some MPs.
You'll be able to take the train to Pyongyang someday. Not today, and maybe not tomorrow. Well, maybe never.
Ah, yes, I couldn't remember the slogan. "Not the last station from the South. But the first station toward the North." Awwww...
Our tour guide is there on te left in the red jacket. She mentioned "American President Georgie Bushie" several times, to our great amusement. The border between North and South Korea runs through the center of this table, so all the people on the right are in North Korea.
Katie and her dad in North Korea.
This guy was stiff at attention. His fists were actually trembling with intensity. All South Korean soldiers are trained in Tae Kwon Do.
That's North Korea over there. Anyone who's played Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction might recognize that big building on the right as the place where you get missions from the UN general.
There was a North Korean soldier standing guard at the door, but he hid behind a pillar when he saw us taking pictures.
Ah! Caught you, you tricky little fucker!
That's a North Korean guard station. Those white posts are the border.
I'm not sure why the guards stand half behind the buildings like that.
So strange.
That's the Bridge of No Return. So scary!
That little marker stands where two American soldiers were killed by North Koreans in what is referred to as "the 1976 Axe Murder Incident."
Here's a better view of the Propaganda Village and the giant flagpole.
The plaque commemorating the axe murder incident.
Bridge of No Return!
After, we went to the Outback Steakhouse near our hotel and ordered a bucket of beer. We were presented with this. Reed was suitably impressed.
Doors! Hey! Western bar! All right! Looking up, I'm not 100% sure what a "Playstation Couple Zone" is, but it sounds awesome.
This is what "Doors" was like.
Nice, yes?
Hammering Man Statue. It moves.
"Hey, we're in Seoul, what do you guys want to eat?"
This guy was so cool.
National Palace Museum!
They were having a changing of the guards at the National Palace. It was a whole big production. The guy in the regular clothes was like the director.
March!
I want flags like that.
But I'd settle for a big-ass drum.
The best part was how they sucked at it, so the director yelled at them, and they all had to go back and do it again.
The choppers weren't real.
This is the front gate of the National Palace.
The security guards had hittin' sticks.
Thanks for ruining my picture, douche. V for victory!
Hey, it's us!
The insides of the place reminded me a lot of temples in Taiwan.
Pretty blue thing.
Sorry, I'm a sucker for dragons.
The complex was gigantic.
There's the N Seoul Tower off in the distance.
Cherry blossoms! Sakura, right?
Rat.
Boar.
Dog.
Cock. I mean, chicken.
Monkey. Katie's a Monkey.
Goat. I forgot to mention that these are the signs of the Chinese zodiac. Sorry.
Horse. That's me! Steadfast and loyal!
Snake. Damned Slytherins.
Dragon. Significantly cooler than all the others. Except Horse.
Rabbit. Reed the Rabbit.
Tiger. Coolest after Dragon. And Horse.
Ox.
Then we visited the Wee Folk.
We watched the Wee Folk play and cavort.
The Wee Folk tried to sell us their tiny wares.
The Wee King and Queen.
Showing the traditional harvesting of the Green Cashews.
Then we flew above the Wee Kingdom. (This is what Seoul looked like a shitload of years ago.)
Oh, the Wee Folk love to dance!
Making Wee Kimchi.
Soak that wee cabbage!
She was my favorite.
Look how HAPPY she is! And she's just a DOLL!
Katie said, "Look, a little statue! By the stairs."
It was a fire extinguisher.
One of the rear gates. That's Katie making a run for it.
Absolutely adorable picture of Katie with a little tree in front of Gyeonghoeru, a feast pavilion.
I'm pretty sure that the mountain is Inwangsan, but I've been known to lie.
The lovely Gyeonghoeru. I should probably have mentioned alreaday that the entire complex is called Gyeongbokung, which is fantastically fun to say aloud: Gyong-boo-kong.
I have no odea what these weird little poles were doing. We were exhausted and on our way out.
There were buckets of them, though.
This statue had the most character. He looks so bored.
This is what I'm going as next Halloween.
The southeast gate of Gyeongbokung. After this, we hopped in a cab to go back to the Seoul Arts Center for a performance. Traffic was entirely out of control, though, and it ended up taking 45 minutes to get there, and we were actually late for the beginning of the performance.
The next day we went to Insadong, which is a lively neighbourhood with lots of shopping. Anne (who lived here years ago), said that Insadong was sort of seedy, but in a good way. Not so much anymore. It was very bright and clean and a little touristy. We ate at a place called Gogung. Their specialty is bibimbap, which is rice and a bunch of vegetables and egg and stuff all mixed up in a hot stone bowl. So yummy! Surprisingly, Reed liked it while Katie didn't. How odd. The little silver kettle is full of makoli, which is yet another unique Korean liquor. It's sort of milky-looking, and pungent. We polished off a bottle of it and a few beers with lunch, and I got up to leave, and I was _trashed_. We shopped on Insadong gil, and I was seriously half out of it. I had a great time in Korea.
Yummy bibimbap!
Ah, she cheered up after. She liked sitting next to the giant bibimbap, at least.
Ssamziegil is the little mini-mall where Gogung was located.
This is Insadong-gil in 2007. There's a Starbucks.
Further south on Insadong-gil. There's the 7-11. Topkol (Tapgol) Park is just to the left.
I think I saw Faith using these on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in one episode. Or maybe it was on Star Trek. Anyway, I had to work not to buy them.
An abandoned bottle of soju.
Katie waving to her dad. Her dad is directly above her thumb, wearing a yellow coat, utterly oblivious to her shouting.
I had fun in Insadong. But then, I was loaded drunk.
A soap opera was filming a scene at this little store. I actually bought masks for my sisters from this store.
Brush with fame!
Horrid picutre, intersting story. We were toddling along, and we get accosted by a pack of giggling teenaged Korean girls, who proceed to ask us (in between fits of giggling) in halting (but definitely not broken) English if we'd mind answerin some questions for school. Their assignment was apparently to seek out a foreigner and quiz them on where they came from, what the hell they were doing in Korea, and if they liked Seoul. Bear in mind that I was still drunk from that makoli. Oh, it was a grand old time, and at the end of it, she gave me a present! A little table runner (that's what Katie says it is); it's a white square of fabric about a foot on a side with a little picture of a person and an ox, and some Korean (han-gul) writing on it. Good deal!
Anne had encouraged me to venture into the alleys of Insadong to find something called a makoli-jip, like a makoli bar, where they scoop the makoli up out of these big drums. Sounded sketchy, but hey, I was already drunk as it was. Alas, my search was in vain, for all I could find were shuttered and abandoned buildings.
Street gangs are very well-dressed in Seoul.
Did you know that Mr. Pizza is made for women?
All the poles have these weird wrap things on them. My guess is that they discourage posters and stickers. They also discourage leaning and touching.
We went to a Buddhist temple nearby, called Jogyesa.
I'm really used to seeing stuff like this in Taiwan.
Buddha!
Three big buddhas.
The whole ceiling was covered with these little tiny paper lanterns.
Good doors, hey?
More good buddhist doors.
So chibi happy buddha!
The subway put even Taipei's to shame. It was clean and modern and fast!
We went to The Nashville for drinks, mainly because Anne had told us that they had a sign up saying "No Koreans Allowed", which is hilarious. It seems that Koreans are now permitted to enter. Kids are still shout out of luck, though. Looks like it's back to drinking in the park for Korea's youths.
The Nasville is in yet another lively neighbourhood called Itaewon.
Buy the way is an amusing name for a store.
Hey, we're in Korea! Let's get some... Thai food? We went to Thai Orchid, Reed got pineapple chicken fried rice that he loved, Katie's cashew chicken was delicious, and my green curry chicken just about BURNED THE FRIGGING FACE OFF OF ME. Hey, I like spicy, but JAY-SUS.
We thought about going to Chiago, but we thought we'd pass on Chiago. We'll go to Chiago next time.
Then we went to Seoul Pub. Lots of foreigners hang out here. Lots of soldiers. A fight broke out, as a young fella started talking shit to this old guy who must have been friends with the owner. It was funny.
Funny fun!
This is our little room at the Rainbow Hotel. It came with a computer!
Rainbow Hotel, Hotel Rainbow, whatever. Koreans seem to be fairly loose with syntax.
Oh, Hotel Rainbow.
"Hey, wanna go for a few cacktails after work?" "Sure, why not? I haven't had a good cacktail in weeks!"
"Hey, where's the Traditional Culture Experiencing Zone? Oh, over there by the Children's Playroom? Thanks!"
Seoul's airport.
The end! Goodbye, Korea! I loved Korea, and so did Katie. We love Korea. Go to Korea if you can. It is nice. Love, Adam.
