Soulful in Seoul
This weekend's Seoul trip was more about discovering the bus schedule and the subway system than exploring the city. I went north to Gangneung on Friday night, and stayed at a love motel near the bus station. I woke up early and caught a bus, and arrived at the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal around 11. The only difficult part of the Seoul metro underground is finding the station you want on a map of 8 (9? 10?) crazily overlapping lines.
I wandered a little in Itaewon, trying to find the Naked Grill unsuccessfully, and then I went to Insadong, and found an apple festival in progress. All the art galleries and shops lining the main Insadong street were bustling with foreigners and Koreans alike. Korean hula dancers performed on a nearby stage, and danced to a song I only know from Jimmy Buffet - "Mele kalikimaka is the thing to say, on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas day". There was also a girl who danced with poi, but they weren't on fire and she wasn't half as good as Reed's poi dancers. There were lots of stands on the street where Korean guys were making kkultarae (꿀타래) in English, Korean, and Japanese.
It's pretty amazing stuff to watch, but I'm not a huge fan of nuts. I wandered Insadong until I got to the end of the street, where I found a Baskin-Robbins and had a waffle cone of Raspberry Cheesecake, more my style of a treat. I wandered back, browsing and poking things, and then wandered further down the street until I reached Gyeongbok Palace and the National Folk Museum.
The actual palace part had been rebuilt after the Korean war, so it was all pale, unpainted wood that smelled amazing but seemed rather pointlessly reconstructed. It wasn't a palace anyone had ever lived in, so I didn't really understand why we weren't allowed to go inside. Most of the palace was also freshly painted, although I found one ceiling that looked old enough to be genuine. They were also doing quite a bit of construction, so many of the buildings were blocked off. However, the islet in the middle of the square lake had the most beautiful two-story round building on it.
At another section, a random older white guy walked up to me.
~~~
Him: This is the perfect spot for a palace, do you know why?
Me: What?
Him: I just got here from China, and they would say this is the perfect spot for a palace. They say "good fengshui"...do you know what that is?
Me: Yeah, I know fengshui.
Him: So why is it a good spot?
Me: What?
Him: It's got a mountain behind, and look...water here, and water there.
Me: I see...
~~~
He continued to talk to me about his recent travels and the flat Stanley he was carrying around taking pictures of for some small child relative. Eventually I wandered away, but he found me again and once more began talking. Then he went to take pictures of the old ceiling I found, walking on a floor in his shoes that I'm not sure visitors are allowed to walk on at all, much less in dirty outdoor shoes. Oh well.
The National Folk Museum had free admission and was pretty neat. They had a gallery that was the "Korean life cycle", and a gallery that compared traditional, past Korean life with modern Korean life. I forget what the other gallery was. My favorite exhibit was the large funerary coffin-boat. I want to write an academic paper someday about death and fire and boats. It was getting dark and the museum was closing, so I didn't have time to really read any of the signage. I may go back (especially since it is free) and absorb some more. I've missed going to museums.
I headed back to Insadong, buying waffley fish filled with sweet bean paste on the way (붕어빵 - Bungeobbang, or "goldfish bread").
Back in Insadong, I ran into my friend Nanheui, who was browsing the art galleries with another friend. We saw some pretty amazing modern art, and then met up with Nanheui's boyfriend, Miles, and her other Korean-Canadian friend Angela. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant called Oz's, where Nanheui took far too many pictures of a Golden Retriever, and I had my eyes closed in all the pictures she took of me, and then went to Hangik University district, to a hookah bar, and then to a tent-bar where we ate lots of food and Miles and Angela drank a lot of soju. Then we went to a noraebang and sang till we were hoarse (except Miles, who doesn't sing much). He did sing Obladi Oblada with me, I'll give him credit for that.
They left to go to another bar (at 2am), while I went back to my motel and tried to sleep. I woke up early in the morning nonetheless and got on the metro to Yongsan. I got to the I-Park department store before it was properly open and had to wait almost an hour before the eletronics store opened and I could buy a camera. The man who sold it to me was confused by my desire for a Canon camera, and his parting shot, when I handed him a giant wad of cash, was "Nikon is better!"
I ended up with the Canon IXUS 980 IS, or the Canon PowerShot SD 990 IS ELPH (as it is known in the States). I paid more than I wanted to, and more than I would have in the States, I think, but I was so DONE with trying to find a deal and trying to even obtain a camera that I just wanted to be done with it. I still miss my old camera, even though it stopped working (I think the Egyptian sand really did it in, eventually), and it is now in pieces on a mobile I made for my friend Graham. It served me very well. Still, now I can take pictures again, although it's been so long that I've had an instant-gratification-camera that I've totally forgotten how to work a digital camera and frame shots for it, so my first pictures aren't stellar.
After Yongsan, I went back to Insadong (because the shops were finally open) and picked up a lamp that had caught my eye the day before. It's beautiful, and it lights up my room very softly, perfect for knitting while watching a movie.
The lady who sold it to me included bulbs and a plug converter for when I return to America, and recommended that I buy a small plant to put in the bowl of the base (which I am going to do).
The purple quilting you can see behind the lamp is actually my window - my bedroom is very dark all the time because of it, and the light is consequently always bluish purple during the day. The window lets in a terrible draft when it is windy outside (which is often), and the quilt has to be tucked behind my headboard and my bookshelf - so I can't just let it down and put it up depending on the weather. Add that to the shortening days (and no, there isn't any daylight savings time here, Mom), and it means that it is very, very dark when I wake up in the morning, making it quite difficult to pry myself out of bed and into the cold air of my unheated apartment.
I headed home after that, with aching feet, a much lighter wallet, and a strong desire for my own bed. I stopped at Baskin-Robbins in the bus terminal while I waited for my bus and played with my camera, and then slept most of the way home. We stopped at my favorite rest stop and I obtained my new favorite snack - glutinous rice donuts (찹쌀 도너츠). Google translate and I are having fun trying to find a recipe that I can understand. Apparently there is Chapssal donut mix premade that you can buy, mixing it with an egg and some oil, but I don't think my local grocery store will have it. A visit to Homeplus in Samcheok may be in order today.
It was a good trip, and definitely broke me out of my lethargy and mild agoraphobia. Travelling alone does wear me down a little bit, but not nearly as much as travelling with a herd. It just means that my pictures are either just of sights and landscapes (which gets a little boring), or the dorky, myspace-style pictures you take of yourself to prove you were there. Someday I'll make friends, I hope.
You can find the rest of my photos that I took on Sunday (here). Most of the photos on this page aren't mine, but in subsequent entries, rest assured that they will be.
I wandered a little in Itaewon, trying to find the Naked Grill unsuccessfully, and then I went to Insadong, and found an apple festival in progress. All the art galleries and shops lining the main Insadong street were bustling with foreigners and Koreans alike. Korean hula dancers performed on a nearby stage, and danced to a song I only know from Jimmy Buffet - "Mele kalikimaka is the thing to say, on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas day". There was also a girl who danced with poi, but they weren't on fire and she wasn't half as good as Reed's poi dancers. There were lots of stands on the street where Korean guys were making kkultarae (꿀타래) in English, Korean, and Japanese.
Click to viewIt's pretty amazing stuff to watch, but I'm not a huge fan of nuts. I wandered Insadong until I got to the end of the street, where I found a Baskin-Robbins and had a waffle cone of Raspberry Cheesecake, more my style of a treat. I wandered back, browsing and poking things, and then wandered further down the street until I reached Gyeongbok Palace and the National Folk Museum.
The actual palace part had been rebuilt after the Korean war, so it was all pale, unpainted wood that smelled amazing but seemed rather pointlessly reconstructed. It wasn't a palace anyone had ever lived in, so I didn't really understand why we weren't allowed to go inside. Most of the palace was also freshly painted, although I found one ceiling that looked old enough to be genuine. They were also doing quite a bit of construction, so many of the buildings were blocked off. However, the islet in the middle of the square lake had the most beautiful two-story round building on it.
At another section, a random older white guy walked up to me.
~~~
Him: This is the perfect spot for a palace, do you know why?
Me: What?
Him: I just got here from China, and they would say this is the perfect spot for a palace. They say "good fengshui"...do you know what that is?
Me: Yeah, I know fengshui.
Him: So why is it a good spot?
Me: What?
Him: It's got a mountain behind, and look...water here, and water there.
Me: I see...
~~~
He continued to talk to me about his recent travels and the flat Stanley he was carrying around taking pictures of for some small child relative. Eventually I wandered away, but he found me again and once more began talking. Then he went to take pictures of the old ceiling I found, walking on a floor in his shoes that I'm not sure visitors are allowed to walk on at all, much less in dirty outdoor shoes. Oh well.
The National Folk Museum had free admission and was pretty neat. They had a gallery that was the "Korean life cycle", and a gallery that compared traditional, past Korean life with modern Korean life. I forget what the other gallery was. My favorite exhibit was the large funerary coffin-boat. I want to write an academic paper someday about death and fire and boats. It was getting dark and the museum was closing, so I didn't have time to really read any of the signage. I may go back (especially since it is free) and absorb some more. I've missed going to museums.
I headed back to Insadong, buying waffley fish filled with sweet bean paste on the way (붕어빵 - Bungeobbang, or "goldfish bread").
Back in Insadong, I ran into my friend Nanheui, who was browsing the art galleries with another friend. We saw some pretty amazing modern art, and then met up with Nanheui's boyfriend, Miles, and her other Korean-Canadian friend Angela. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant called Oz's, where Nanheui took far too many pictures of a Golden Retriever, and I had my eyes closed in all the pictures she took of me, and then went to Hangik University district, to a hookah bar, and then to a tent-bar where we ate lots of food and Miles and Angela drank a lot of soju. Then we went to a noraebang and sang till we were hoarse (except Miles, who doesn't sing much). He did sing Obladi Oblada with me, I'll give him credit for that.
They left to go to another bar (at 2am), while I went back to my motel and tried to sleep. I woke up early in the morning nonetheless and got on the metro to Yongsan. I got to the I-Park department store before it was properly open and had to wait almost an hour before the eletronics store opened and I could buy a camera. The man who sold it to me was confused by my desire for a Canon camera, and his parting shot, when I handed him a giant wad of cash, was "Nikon is better!"
I ended up with the Canon IXUS 980 IS, or the Canon PowerShot SD 990 IS ELPH (as it is known in the States). I paid more than I wanted to, and more than I would have in the States, I think, but I was so DONE with trying to find a deal and trying to even obtain a camera that I just wanted to be done with it. I still miss my old camera, even though it stopped working (I think the Egyptian sand really did it in, eventually), and it is now in pieces on a mobile I made for my friend Graham. It served me very well. Still, now I can take pictures again, although it's been so long that I've had an instant-gratification-camera that I've totally forgotten how to work a digital camera and frame shots for it, so my first pictures aren't stellar.
After Yongsan, I went back to Insadong (because the shops were finally open) and picked up a lamp that had caught my eye the day before. It's beautiful, and it lights up my room very softly, perfect for knitting while watching a movie.
The lady who sold it to me included bulbs and a plug converter for when I return to America, and recommended that I buy a small plant to put in the bowl of the base (which I am going to do).
The purple quilting you can see behind the lamp is actually my window - my bedroom is very dark all the time because of it, and the light is consequently always bluish purple during the day. The window lets in a terrible draft when it is windy outside (which is often), and the quilt has to be tucked behind my headboard and my bookshelf - so I can't just let it down and put it up depending on the weather. Add that to the shortening days (and no, there isn't any daylight savings time here, Mom), and it means that it is very, very dark when I wake up in the morning, making it quite difficult to pry myself out of bed and into the cold air of my unheated apartment.
I headed home after that, with aching feet, a much lighter wallet, and a strong desire for my own bed. I stopped at Baskin-Robbins in the bus terminal while I waited for my bus and played with my camera, and then slept most of the way home. We stopped at my favorite rest stop and I obtained my new favorite snack - glutinous rice donuts (찹쌀 도너츠). Google translate and I are having fun trying to find a recipe that I can understand. Apparently there is Chapssal donut mix premade that you can buy, mixing it with an egg and some oil, but I don't think my local grocery store will have it. A visit to Homeplus in Samcheok may be in order today.
It was a good trip, and definitely broke me out of my lethargy and mild agoraphobia. Travelling alone does wear me down a little bit, but not nearly as much as travelling with a herd. It just means that my pictures are either just of sights and landscapes (which gets a little boring), or the dorky, myspace-style pictures you take of yourself to prove you were there. Someday I'll make friends, I hope.
You can find the rest of my photos that I took on Sunday (here). Most of the photos on this page aren't mine, but in subsequent entries, rest assured that they will be.