So here i am in the heart and Seoul of South Korea (yes i know what you’re all thinking… alex… didn’t Dom confiscate your pun gun license? Well yes she did but I’ve been given a reprieve: an international license with 2 months validity yay). It’s been great to see Mum and Bob again. The flight over was fine, pretty empty so Bianca and I had quite a bit of room. The ten hours went really quickly as I was reading Harry Potter the whole time… p.s. what do you call a south korean businessman….. a seoul trader! get it get it?
After we left the airport we were immediately introduced to the heat and horrible humidity of Seoul (a dangerous condition when coupled with my corrosive sweat…ewww). Anyway, the airport itself is really far from Seoul and it took us over an hour to get to Seoul National University, where mum and bob’s apartment is. It was very late by the time we got back that after a brief stint on facebook it was off to bed.
On our first day in Seoul we went to meet one of bob’s colleagues along with his wife and daughter, Jennifer, who was Bianca’s age, for lunch. I had Bulgogi (basically shredded beef with various strange side dishes). Afterwards we went for coffee at one of the cafes in the uni. Apparently Koreans don’t like to talk much during the meal and would prefer to eat quickly then go get coffee afterwards. After lunch, Mum decided to take me and Bianca to this big old palace… it looked quite impressive but we’d missed all the English tours and it was so hot and we were dying so Bianca and I just whinged a lot. After leaving the palace we went to Insadong, which is a kinda Tradition Korean touristy area (i.e. lots of “traditional korean” knick knacks. We did, however, have an awesome dinner (there was even a mixed mushroom hot pot involved… along with lots of kimchi: spicy cabbage which I am now addicted to). We also had Baek Se Ju (not sure how to spell it), which is a traditional korean alcoholic drink. Another odd thing about Korea is that they only give you 1 menu per table (rather than a menu for each of the four of us)… quite annoying. And the cutlery is in a drawer on the table, and there is a button on the table to press when you want to call the waiter over. After dinner we wended our weary way back home on the subway… which is not my friend. Also to be noted is that Seoul has a foul stench about it that permeates the whole city (except out at the uni here because the campus is in the mountains with lots of trees about).
On our second say in Seoul we went to have lunch at one of the cafeterias… bi-mim-bap…was really quite good for like a union outlet and there was unlimited kimchi! After that we went down the road to this temple, which was also very pretty, and I learned how to count in Korean. We then sat down in the park for a beer and ice cream (not green tea). Anyway, with our beer we also had dried squid, basically squid jerky, which is apparently the food you always nibble on with beer in Korea. After that mum took me (without bianca who wanted to stay home and read Harry Potski) to Seoul Tower (basically Telstra Tower). It is on the top of this mountain in the middle of Seoul and provides a great 360 degree view over the city. I also had a very interesting Green Tea Ice Cream with Red Bean. We caught the cable car back down the mountain then walked to the nearest station, stopping briefly at Myeongdong (shopping area). We then met up with bianca and bob for dinner in Naksondae, where we had bbq pork and you actually get to barbecue it yourself on the table (and don’t worry… there was also kimchi involved).
On my third day in Seoul, I went with Bob to his office in the Computer Science faculty. I did some work there in the morning then we went and had lunch at the cafeteria again… was very spicy (and there was kimchi! ). I was then introduced to one of bob’s colleagues students, who are doing really cool work with motion-capture and 3d modeling and facial expressions and sketch based animation and then most of it got too complicated. Apparently me being there would have been a few levels of weird for them… not only was I a westerner! but also an undergrad! But they didn’t mind and asked me to critique a presentation they were doing english for SIGGRAPH in a couple of weeks. Their lab was quite cool, the ~10 of them working in the lab with their desks around the wall and all the mo-cap setup in the middle… they also had a big tv, gamecube, fridge, etc. We actually caught them folding away a bed as we walked in… I think they work too hard.
On the note about westerners, Korea is the first place that I’ve been in a while where I feel like an outsider. Travelling around Europe I would be able to get away with looking like I’m from the place i’m visiting or close to it… but in Korea… well I sorta stick out… get a few funny looks in public (and it’s not because I look like a terrorist :P).
On my fourth day in Seoul, Bianca and I went to meet up with Jennifer and her friend, Jessica. First we went shopping MyeongDong (just so many shops everywhere). Then to InsaDong again… where Bianca and I were accosted by Korean schoolgirls wanting to ask us questions for their English homework! Was quite funny. Then we went and had dinner in the same street that we went to for dinner after the palace. We had bulgogi and umm some really spicy seafood thing (and I spilt octopus on myself)… oh and kimchi! We also some “traditional korean” rice wine, which tasted… interesting. After dinner we went to Sinchon, which is a student area around Jennifer’s uni, where we met up with her boyfriend. We then went to the strangest. cafe. ever. It was called the Doctor Fish cafe. We went in there, took our shoes off, sat down and ordered some beers. The beers arrived with some dried squid, which this time was no in jerky form but squid form; a dried flat pressed squid that we had to rip apart… tasted good though Then! We went and washed our feet and went to the big pool in the middle of cafe, which is full of tiny fish. You put your legs in the water and the fish come and nibble at your feet, supposedly cleaning them… crazy. After the fish had had enough to eat, we washed our feet, got dressed and headed back home.
On my fifth day in Seoul my tour guide gave to me… a trip to COEX… a big shopping mall underneath a skyscraper. We met up with one of mum’s Korean friends and her young son and looked around, event went to this little robot exhibition. Then we went to… pizza hut… but we had bulgogi pizza so it was only sorta-western. After lunch bianca and i went an bought some shoes then we all went to a cafe. After coffee (well after my kiwi banana smoothie) we left mum’s friend and son and headed over to Itaewon to meet mum’s other friends, Maria and her husband michael. Itaewon is a designated tourist area and it is disgusting. We went to this pub, which was full of Americans. Had a beer and chatted for a while… then braved the peak hour subway back home.
And here I am, looking at which hostel to book for Budapest. I’m going with Yongsan electronics market to get some more memory for my phone and camera tomorrow, then off to the markets with mum to buy some socks. And then I leave Korea on friday morning to go meet up with Karan in Frankfurt.
Well I hope you all enjoyed my first, long-awaited, post!
Chau
Alexander
