Belated final day in Korea

I realized after reading Megan's blog about her trip to Portugal with Guy, Alana and Steve that we neglected to describe our last day in Korea. In a way, we tied up loose ends. There were a few places that we wanted to revisit and we had hopes of seeing a play, Nanta, that is Stomp with cooking. We had evening plans for dinner, drinks and nam-ba with the Cootes, but the day was all ours. So, we boarded the trusty subway and headed for the city. Our first stop was the toy market in Dongdaemun. Tony has a great need to buy Gundam figures and it seemed to be the place to look. We wandered alleys, getting half-lost and enjoying the mysterious twists, turns and smells. Eventually we did find the appropriate shop and Tony purchased toys to his heart's content. We then made our happy way to Namdaemun (the market we had failed to find earlier in the week).

There are some mall type structures in Namdaemun. We avoided these and somehow found ourselves in the costume jewelry and housewares market. The housewares market extends underground. it's an overwhelming place for two reasons: 1. The overwhelming amount of stuff. Especially fragile stuff that a misplaced elbow could send crashing to floor and 2. The overwhelming amount of humanity squeezed into the little tiny aisles. You have no choice but to be jostled and no option but to jostle back if you want to escape. Also, it was very very warm. Not my favorite experience, but it was a good experience to have. I may be less likely to panic in dressing rooms at clothing stores now. Tony was disappointed in Namdaemun because he was on a quest for amethysts. There were amethysts in Itaewan (which we did buy) and in Insadong, but he wanted to pick up one for a friend. Sadly, Namdemun had lots of jade and lots of fake whatever-gem-you-want, but no amethysts. Tony was starting to feel a bit unwell, so we decided to head to Nanta.

We had 2 options to get to Nanta: the friendly subway or a cab. We chose the cab, being very careful to select the silver /grey one (these start charging at 1600 wan) as opposed to the black one (these are high status cabs and start charging at 4000 wan). We wandered through a cobblestoned neighborhood and got to the nanta theatre, ready to buy our 25000 wan seats. Except that all of the seat were sold out with the exception of the 50000 and 60000 wan seats. So we changed our plan. We went a big bookstore near the palace and then returned home. Tony was visibly unwell at this point, so Nanta did us a favor by being too expensive. Tony slept for a couple of hours and was refreshed for the evening of merriment. The plan was to keep us up extra late so that we'd sleep on the plane.

Refreshed and feeling healthy again, the six of us walked a few blocks and down a level to a charming little French restaurant. Yes, I know, heresy to eat non-Korean food on our last night. However, most of the Cootes have lived in Seoul for 18 months and Yugi has lived there her whole life. They like a break from Korean food. It was excellent. The company and conversation were too. Afterwards we wandered to a local bar for drinks and bar food. Sometimes it takes lubrication to sing in semipublic. We had a wonderful pineapple drink and lots of yummy Korean versions of beernuts and bar food. Then it was time to sing. We sang a lot. We probably sang quite loudly, but we had our own little room so no-one else had to hear us. We sang enthusiastically. We sang until my throat hurt. Did we sing well? Occasionally. Did it matter? Not really. We retired happy and sleepy except for those who chose to go to what I like to call the "naked all night sauna". You can get naked haircuts there, too. Tony declined the invitation. I wasn't allowed. Sadly, we did not get to say goodbye to Jeff and Ian the next morning.

Snow

Gaah! It's snowing again!! I'm going back to bed for the rest of the weekend. With a book full of photos of tropical places.

Jetlag

We did arrive home safely and we're almost readjusted to our own time. Tony did not sleep well on the plane back. I slept OK for plane sleep (Dramamine knocks me pretty flat). My very kind parents picked us up from O'Hare and drove us their house. Tony went to bed. I woke him up about 3 hours later for dinner. We both stayed awake until about 10:30 before giving up completely. I made it out of bed twelve and a half hours later. Tony woke up about 4:00am, puttered around for a bit and went back to sleep until noon. We were planning on driving back home around the time that we finished breakfast. Good thing we came back on Saturday. On Sunday night we stayed up until about ten. Tony woke up at 3:00 am. I woke up at 3:30 and got up at 4:00, fed the critters, had coffee and ate breakfast. I was bored by about 5:15, so I went back to bed until the alarm went off at 6:45. I can't speak for Tony, but I was cranky all day long, those poor people I work with. Tony was in bed when I got home at 7:30 last night. He was pretty much awake from 10:00 until 5:00 this morning. He was so happy when the alarm went off this morning exclaiming, "I slept!". Then he hit snooze for a while. I also benefitted from the snoozing. At this moment we are both awake, Tony has gone for a run and there is hope that our regular sleeping patterns will return.

Korea - Day 6 Preparations for Home

It's after 2am. Our throats are numb from nam-ba (Korean karaoke, where you pay by the hour for a private room and sing your heart out with friends and family). Jeff and Ian have gone across the road for sauna. We have to leave for the airport at 8:15 so we'll see you all on the other side of the International Date Line. Don't expect coherent posts for a few days :)

Korea - Day 5 Celebrities for No Good Reason

Since we'd spent Wednesday exploring Korea's current political reality, we decided to look into its past yesterday. After a semi-lazy morning we once again boarded the subway for Gyeongbokgung Palace. On the way there I gave up my seat to an older woman. I was immediately surrounded by a cheerful crowd of middle aged Korean women. They were going en masse to meet friends at Han mountain for the day. At the end there would be twenty of them visiting together. They were very sweet and Tony and I were watched with a great deal of approval until they disembarked. So far we haven't run into any angry people on the subway. I fact, everyone either ignores us or is very happy to see us. Then again, we give up our seats to older people if they let us.

Gyeongbokgung is actually a palace complex. It was originally built in 1395 as the government center for the Joseon dynasty. The Joseons were in control here until 1910. I think that's an amazingly good run, but when I see dates that start with 13s and 14s I tend to expect buildings to be moldering away. I suspect it's an American thing. The current buildings aren't actually 610 years old, though. Most of them were destroyed when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1592 and then rebuilt in 1868.

History out of the way, the complex is just beautiful. The biggest impact for me was turning off a busy, loud Seoul street and looking through the first gate (Gwanghwamun) at the beautiful, two story building backed by mountains that I assumed was the palace. The contrast was breathtaking. It wasn't the palace, just the second gate (Heungryemun), but it was still lovely. We enjoyed roaming the grounds and gardens, occasionally being accosted by happy school children. The National Folk Museum is on the same grounds, so we learned a bit about the prehistory and early history of Korea. We also stopped at one of the Kimchi Information Systems to learn more about kimchi. The Kimchi Information Systems are quite impressive, standing computer kiosks which speak three different languages and tell all anyone needs to know about kimchi. We had a snack of Korean sweets, but were humgry enough to leave the complex at this point.

On our way out not only were we greeted by the school children, but a few were surreptitiously taking pictures of us with their camera phones. Pint-sized paparazzi. I wonder if their parents are upset that they were more impressed by the wandering Americans than their national history. Some of the braver kids actually asked our permission to take pictures. On the way out the first gate, three boys asked if they could take my picture. I said OK and asked if they wanted to stand with me. Instantly the rest of their class appeared, cameras in hand. A few cameras were passed back and forth and I think that one of the boys traded out with his friends. As overwhelming as it was, they were very polite about it and swarmed off again pretty quickly. The high-school aged students were mostly too cool to be impressed by us. A group of three girls did make a point of calling Tony pencil boy. He realized, after hearing one of them call me beaupipul that were actually saying handsome boy. I like pencil boy. After all, he draws and has a pencil with him at all times. Very insightful Korean girls.

I was a bit kimchied out, or at least my digestive tract was feeling that way, so we looked for more westernized food. We found Mr. Pizza. Mr. Pizza claims to be "Made for women," but Tony joined me anyway. Sweet potato pizza is wonderful! Basically it's a stuffed-crust pizza topped with potato, mushrooms (Tony picked these out), bacon, corn, onion, crumbled tortilla chips and cheddar cheese. Instead of being stuffed with cheese, the crust is stuffed with sweet potato. Yummy good! Apparently this is very popular in Korea as well, so I didn't feel too bad for whining about no more kimchi.

Bellies full and happy, we wandered back down to Insadong (I love Insadong) and shopped. I almost bought a $20.00 ink stone, but Tony caught that the price was in yen, not wan, before I did. I did buy lots of lovely things (they take credit cards in Insadong) and Tony got to haggle a little. Satisfied, we returned to our friend the subway orange line for our hour trip home. The subway was busier on the way back, so our celebrity status left us. Once again, we were just oddly complected bodies taking up valuable standing or sitting space just like all the normally complected bodies. Yugi was making diner, so we stopped and bought a cake as a contribution. It was supposed to be a chocolate cream cake. It was a blueberry cream cake. It was still yummy. Yugi's Chopche and seafood pancakes were great. I might be brave enough to try oysters at home. I definately like squid. Anyung hiseo.

Korea - Day 4 - Tony vs. The North Korean Army

We almost missed out tour of the Demilitarized Zone (AKA DMZ, Pan Mun Jom, Joint Security Area, JSA). We had ben instructed (or so we thought) to meet our tour guids in a hotel lobby. Rather, what apparently was said was "in the B-1 room". We even saw a tour guide looking person and Amy went to ask if her group was going to the demilitarized zone. Amy came back to me and said, "nope, she said they were not. They are going to Pan Mun Jon." Which struck me as odd, because that's kind of like saying "we are not going to the District of Columbia, we are going to Washington DC."
Thankfully, my nervousness grew enough for me to go back, find the tour guide (just barely) and we got it straightened out.

The drive was about an hour by bus, during which we picked up more history on the Korean War than either of us had learned in school (or after having lived in Korea).

There are very strict rules for visiting the DMZ. One must be dressed properly. No Nothing low cut, revealing, or sloppy. No blue jeans (they are considered a symbol of America, and are thus offensive, to the North Koreans). Out passports were checked twice. In some parts of the tour, no personal articles were allowed except camera (no video) and binoculars - and even those were only allowed to be used in designated areas. Through the more sensitive part - the actual boundary of the separation, where meetings between the two nations take place, and North Korea is literaly a stones throw away, we were instructed to remain as a group, two single file lines, and to not under any circumstance smile, wave, make eye contact with or gesture in any way towards the North Korean gaurds.

Of course we saw no North Korean gaurds. And the differences between South Korean and North Korean gaurds was not emphasized. So the whole tour group was rather stiff while our Army presenter, Fernandez, was cracking jokes.

We were brought right to the center og the DMZ, the building in which the the countrys (and US, and other involved countries) met. There were South Korean guards standing at intimidating TeakWonDo ready pose inside and outside the building. The line of demarkation ran though the building - it was slipt in half. After an explaination of the layout, we were invited to step into North Korea. And wouldn't you know it, I was first in line. We were also allowed to take pictures (surprisingly) within this building. And with the guards. Here is Amy, 2 feet inside North Korea, standing slightly nervously next to a South Korean Gaurd (who is stradling the boundry).


Next we were taken back out of the building, and, facing North Korea, given a rundown of the surrounding buildings. Three buildings straddling the boarder (painted light teal) were designated as South Korean/UN buildings. Three (much more stylishly in silver blocks) were North Korean. One of the NK buildings was designated the rec room, though there was not a opiece of work out equipment inside. From this room, dubbed by the US and SK guards as "the Monkey Room", NK gaurds occasionally loked out the windows, shouted obscenities and made rude and threatening gestures when they knew a group was gathered in the spot we were currently in. We were again allowed (!!) to take pictures from within the small area we were standing, and asked if we had any questions first.

And then I became "that guy". I casually pointed to the silver building to the right and asked, "that was the monkey house, right?" Fernadez responded, very difinitively, "yes sir, and PLEASE DO NOT POINT." I pretty much kept my head down and held my hands together for the rest of the tour. Here is a picture of the Monkey room (forground) and a North Korean watch post, in which a North Korean guard was watching, rifle at the ready no doubt, even as I pointed in its direction and took this shot.



We were then taken to an observation point in which we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides. From here we could see (among other things) "Propaganda Village". so named by the SK's because, during the war, they had loud speakers constantly tempting anyone South Korea's nearby "Freedom Village" (no propaganda in the naming conventions in South Korea, nosiree) to come over to wonderful, welcomong North Korea, far superior to the South. Freedom Vilage is still a functioning village, pop. about 200, all of whom live there rent and tax free (as incentive to live so ridiculously close the the border. Propaganda village is unihabited, but boasts a much taller, larger flag the Freedom Vilage (the North has a thing for making sure they appear bigger and stronger than the south in every way).


Fllowing the tour, we returned to Seoul and treked up to the Seoul Tower (think Seattle Space Needle) to reach the highest point in the city. Sadly, it is closed for repairs for the next 7 months. We did get some shot of the city scape from the hill, though. This is, perhaps, 1/8 of the view. It extends like this in every direction.


And finally, todays wacky english bastardization... better than home made, its handmade.

Day 3 - Peanut Buttered Roast Squid

On Tuesday we had the first of our exciting adventures somewhat outside of Seoul. Cindy drove us south to the Korean Folk Village. The KFV was interesting. I was looking forward to seeing some open, green space, but the paths were all well swept earth. In fact, we were able to observe the sweeping process. The sweeper was not willing to pose for photos. While exploring and learning about the past of Korea we made a few discoveries.

1. Korean children travel in large, color coded packs and have a cry remarkably like, "Hello, hello, hello, hi, how are you, hello, hi." Occasionally this is punctuated with a cheerful, "F**k you," as they practice new words.

2. These same children are very bold about crossing rivers on stepping stones, but far more timid about crossing on narrow wooden bridges. If an adult American crosses the narrow wooden bridge the children will fall back in awe and applaud. This actually only happens if the adult American is female.


3. Mushroom pancakes are actually omelets and are very good.

4. Sausage soup contains tasty bits that are best left unidentified just in case they are entrails.

5. Wicker brides were an important part of a Korean man's life and as such could not be passed on to future generations.

6. The best unexpected flavor ever is peanut buttered roast squid. It is crisp and sweet and buttery and chewy and comes out of a cool little machine and you can choose body meat or leg meat and ... They eat it at the movies here instead of popcorn. Seriously. It really is good.

Sadly, our afternoon did not fare nearly so well. We planned on heading to Namdaemun market, but our directions lead us instead to Dogdaemun market. Not so big a deal. We were also short on cash so were hoping to find a money exchange or one of the many ATMs that took American cards (so we were told). We had neglected to bring our passports, so the money exchange didn't happen. We tried 2 ATMs in Dogdaemun and both of us were informed by both of them that our cards no longer worked. Frustrated and huffy, we walked through the wholesale toy market to calm down before heading home. The wholesale toy market was cool. Tony especially liked the Bricks (pirated legos).

On the way home we messed up one subway transfer, but caught it before we were carried too far out of our way. We also tried 2 more ATMs with no results. This was getting to be a problem as we needed 57000 wan each for today's trip to Panmujong. Cash. Not $57 American (the rough equivalent). Ian came to our rescue and Cindy played banker for us as well. As long as we don't go too crazy we should be fine. Just be warned if you're ever in Korea: American debit cards work in the ATM machines, with plain old American ATM cards you're SOL.

We came home to a magnificent pasta dinner courtesy of Cindy. This morning we had to get up and on the subway early to catch our tour. More on that tomorrow.

Korea - Day 2 - Shop smart. Shop EMart.

Took a trip with aunt Cindy to the grocery store in the morning. Yes, we came halfway around the world to partake in Grocery shopping. Honestly. We both enjoy experiencing the differences culture through the everyday experiences of that culture.

But first we went to a small, local (not 50 feet from the apartment), proper market to get some fish and veggies. Not much different from what a fish and produce market set up in a parking garage might be here. A wide variety of fish. And eel, squid, skatefish and other unusual varieties.

When I lived here 20 years ago, the idea of a supermarket was pretty... foreign. You bought your food at the street markets or from the small (like 7-11 size small) local grocers. Now, supermarkets, department stores, and supercenters ala Walmart (and, FYI, they have a Walmart here) are everywhere. One of the more prominent stores, EMart, was our destination.

The EMart was four stories. Each floor carried different items. Houswares on 1. Clothes on 2. Health and beauty on 3. And Grocery on 4. Or something like that. We skipped past 1 and 2.

At first glance, it wasn't that different. Lighting felt a little...whiter. Ailes weren't as tall. Little things. Had a good time looking at all the peculiar products and packaging. Even more intriguing was noticing the ratios of what was available. For example, Canned Vegitables. Cindy was happily surprised to find canned vegetables other than corn. This was the first time they had canned peas and baked beans. A quarter of an aisle of dried squid. Two aisles of rice. And a 2 foot by 2 foot selection of canned vegetables.

Just like home, they have free samples on the ends of aisles. Just like home, most are handed out by quiet, pleasent older women. And then there's the meat and store prepared foods section. They bring the old school open outdoor market feeling indoors - shooting, I assume, "I've got some really good beef over here" and "Kimchee. I'm makin' Kimchee. Come get your Kimchee", loud enough to be heard throught most of the store. And theres several of them, all in the same corner. All trying to out-carnival-barker one another.

Oh, and I don't recommend acorn gelatin. Can't really say it's bad, because it's mostly flavorless. Jello (fine, gelatin) should have some flavor. Without it, it's kinda gross.

Curious foods purchased, sampled and, for your vicarious pleasure, reviewed:

Emotion Chocolates: Standard individually wrapped milk chocolate wafers. With pop rocks mixed in. Brilliant.

Milkus: "New feeling of soda beverage," says the tagline. There were a few varieties of Milkus in the soda aisle. All looked a bit like really watered down milk. Bought the one that, from it's package coloring, suggested it was citrus flavor. I was right. Tasted like the remenants of an ice cream float made with Squirt, but still fizzy and crisp. Pretty good.

Little pink box of cookies with chocolate centers. Predictable. No big.

Sansachus: Sweet, rose flavored wine. "Sansa is a fruit bearing, broad leafed, plant belonging to the rose species. Red and a pleasant scent. Good for treating weak stomachs, backaches, and cut (sic)" Very cheap. Very good. Will be bringing some home.

Sweet Dew Tea: A green tea with an aromatic, sweet finish. Even
I liked it.

A note on the later two. They are considered "Well Being" or as the Koreans pronounce, "well bing". This is the trendy health kick buzz word floating around Korea right now. Pretty much every Korean food ends up being considered well bing, and foreign foods (ei, western culture foods) seem suspiciously to lack this very important status.

Returned to Iteawon in the afternoon. Traveled down the allyway to where I used to live. Things have really changed. There are bulidings where streets used to be and streets where building used to be. What were once quiet streets lined with residences have become cluttered streets lines with mom and pop greasy spoons (chopsticks), cleaners, and the like. Dissapointing.
Our apartment complex was the tall, cream colored buliding in the background, right of center.


Made a few small gift purchases, picked up my pimpin' purple housecoat, and returned home.

And just for kicks, I've started taking pictures of fun, mangled english. Enjoy.

Korea - Day 1 Kimchee and Crowds

Sundays are busy days in Seoul. Most Koreans work 6 days a week and so Sundays are the day to relax. For us it was time to explore with Cindy, Jeff, Ian and Yugi and learn the subway system. We started with a walk through the neighborhood to the subway staton. Everything that is needed can be reached easily by walking, including Steve's vet. (Steve is Ian and Yugi's little terrier cross. He's a cutie!) We enjoyed kimchee mondu, which is basically a kimchee (spicy cabbage) potsticker.

The subway system here is very similar to the Tube in London. It's a little unnerving seeing the signs in a different alphabet, but there are Roman characters beneath so I've no need to panic. We were very fortunate and were able to find seats on both trains to Insadong. Insadong is an artisan/art market street. Ian used to work near it. On the way from the subway station to Insadong we stopped in the park where Korean independence from Japan was declared. Yugi, a lifelong resident of Seoul, had never been there before - "too many old people". I loved Insadong. It was full of pottery and beautifully carved ink stones and brushes. Plus, it has The Old Tea Shop. In the travel guides The Old Tea Shop is said to be home to free flying birds, a chameleon and a resident monkey. Only the finches were present when we stopped in, but they were very beautiful to see and hear. I had five senses tea, a bright pink, chilled concoction that did have elements of sweet, salty, sour and bitter. I must still be sleepy because I can't remember the fifth. Tony had cinnamon punch, which he quite enjoyed. None of us had bird poop in our tea which we all quite enjoyed.

Cindy and Jeff took a bus home and Ian, Yugi, Tony and I grabbed a cab to Itaewon. Itaewon is close to the U.S. military base, so it's "America Town". Tony lived close to Itaewon when he was ten. Things have changed since Tony was ten. At one point he asked Ian, "So, how much farther to Itaewon?" Ian replied, "We've been there for the past two blocks." One thing that has only chaged slightly is the bookstore that Tony visited as a kid. We found it in a new building a few yards from where it had originally been. With Yugi's help, Tony not only confirmed that it was the same bookstore, but that he remembered the owner, Mr. Chu. I took a picture of Tony and Mr. Chu and we got to meet Mr. Chu's daughter, Michelle, who teaches piano lessons. I think it turned Tony's day around to know that something hadn't changed (not much anyway).

We stopped for a snack at Gecko's Garden in Itaewon. While there we ran into Ian's friend William. William is from Ireland and he also teaches English. Interestingly, all of the expatriate English teachers we have met so far are men and all of them are dating (or in Ian's case married to) Korean women. We decided to take the bus home after a good time hanging out with William and his girlfriend.

The subway may be slow, but it is much simpler than the bus system. To start with, it stops where it is supposed to. Both Ian and Yugi asked the busdriver if he stopped at Sunae station. He said yes both times and then drove well past Sunae. So, we had to catch a cab to get the rest of the way home. We did make it home eventually and had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood. Jet lag hasn't been too bad for us. Tony crashed at about eleven, but he was up this morning at four. I was up at five. According to Cindy and Ian, this is very normal. It was odd that I slept through until seven-thirty yesterday.

Ian and Jeff have already left for work. Cindy and Yugi don't work until this afternoon. Today Yugi is going to give us insider tips on where to go and we'll probably explore the neighborhood and maybe some other markets. Hopefully we'll go on a tour of the demilitarized zone tomorrow.

Korea - Day 1/2

We have arrived.

It is Sunday morning here, and we are about to venture out on our first mini-adventure in Seoul - a trip to Insa-Dong (arts/crafts area) and Iteawon (sort of an Americanized version of Korea in Korea - it's near the army base, and where I lived so many years ago.

The flight was smooth and not as trudgerous as we'd expect for its length. We arrived last night at 8-ish local time, talked some and slept like fat babies.

More later.

Anticipation

Just a few more days until we leave for Korea! This time next week we will be there! It's going to be great just to get out of South Bend for a while, but even better to leave the entire continent behind! I dragged our spring clothes out of the basement and we've dusted the cobwebs off of our suitcases. Our flight leaves from O'Hare on Friday afternoon. The plan is to have my car packed and ready to go on Wednesday night. That way we can leave as soon as I'm done with work on Thursday. We'll stay Thursday night at my parents' in Illinois and be off on Friday. Soooooo exciting!! I can't wait to go to the tea room with the chameleon and monkey and birds. Real bibimbop! Cherry blossoms! Hopefully no snow!