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.