Vagabonding

Photos: Yeonhwado

cepctheworld — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:44:00 GMT

"It's Summer Vacation" celebration with the teachers at Chung Mu! We had a half day of school then went to lunch, took a ferry to the island, hiked to see the dragon back and saw two temples. Then a delicious Sashimi feast!

Red white and Blue

cepctheworld — Mon, 5 Jul 2010 16:42:00 GMT

Fourth of July in Korea……Saturday 4 of us Americans went to a restaurant called De Bassus which is a German place so naturally they have great beer. A Dunkel, Weisen, Helles and something too dark for me to drink. And imagine this place is only a 3,000krw (2.75$) taxi ride from my house!? What a find! We had delicious beer and french fries while sitting on the coastline and watching the tide going out as some far off islands come in and out of view with the movement of the heat fog. Gosh it is some kind of weather here right now!

Then a larger group of us congregated at Greg's apartment where we all were dying from heat especially since we had to keep the door to the porch closed on account of the fact that we were grilling on his porch and didn't want to fill the apartment with smoke. The spread of food is always as diverse as the group of people there. From burgers to BBQ chicken to grilled tofu, curried squash with hot peppers, rosemary butter potatoes, Greek salad and a ginger/soy sauce/ sesame seed oil marinated mix of veggies... there was something for all of us and enough for all of us.

Then we wondered off to find a bar where we could watch the world cup! We were in a more rural area of town and it was rough to find a place. But low and behold, one bar owner took her small TV out and propped it up on the bar and served us beer and soju and fruit. All ten of us fit around the table and enjoyed the game, all the while being the main form of entertainment for the three other, all male, patrons of the bar.

After Germany crushed Argentina, 4-0, we decided a proper night hike was in order so we collected a few bottles of makkoli (Korean rice wine) and two guitars and headed up one of the mountains by Miso dong. OK, the mountain is really more of a hill but it sure is steep like a mountain and the view from the top was pretty wonderful. I think we woke up every household we wondered by and we had all the dogs barking in the vicinity. Somehow we fiercely stumbled up the mountain sans light. We were very glad when we got to the top, tragically, so were the mosquitoes. There are bites all over my legs and feet but it is a small price to pay for a 4th of July celebration. We belted out the Star Spangled Banner from the top of that mountain like no body's business!! I wouldn't be surprised if N. Korea heard us! It wasn’t a bad way to ring in the holiday!

Photos: Seoul Round 2

cepctheworld — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:21:00 GMT

A few of Ben's pictures

Seoul Round 2

cepctheworld — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:18:00 GMT

Noon time Saturday June 26th found me with three of my friends climbing off the bus in Seoul. It felt pretty good to be surrounded by the sounds of city life, culture, non-Korean food and a few awesome people. Last time my travels were pretty wonderful on my own but Ben, Tucker and Laura had been to Seoul a few more times than me and introduced some unforgettable spots that I would have never found on my own and will probably visit every time I go back.

With our minds full of anticipation, the emptiness of our stomach was undeniable. Then with the temptation of food that is other than Kimchi, rice, chili peppers or fish, we were doubly hungry. With our eye on the prize only, we struggled, but only for a minute to reorient ourselves to the subway system and we were on our way to Hongik University station and Hondae area for some Mexican food!

I have only two Spanish words for you all, Dos Tacos!! It was as close to Mexico as you could probably get here in Korea. The walls were in bright oranges, pinks and yellows like a piñata and 75% of the patrons were foreigners. After we stared at the menu in shock, contemplating ordering one of everything just because we could, we placed our orders and relaxed in the bad pop music and were even tricked, at moments, to thinking that we might be in different country. Every now and then I would peer into the kitchen just to remind myself that the cooks had never worn a sombrero in their life and probably never would. One delicious chicken burrito later, complete with sour cream and pico de gallo (rarities in Korea), we were leaving the little slice of Mexican heaven for our next adventure. But I promise Dos Tacos has not seen the last of me!

Next on the agenda, coffee! So we found this little hole in the wall kind of place with no seating. It literally was like the size of a closet and with our backpacks, the four of us were quite the traffic jam. It was as wide as a hallway until the space opened up into the corner under the stairs and then it was the width of two hallways. Anyways, the atmosphere was small and kind of chic with reds and blacks, and most importantly, the smell of good coffee. Toting one of the largest Iced Americanos I have ever seen, we made our way to find our guest house which was just a few blocks away.

Finding the guest house wasn’t much of a struggle really. You see it was aptly named The Yellow Submarine and the outside of the three story building was painted in a school bus yellow. We dropped off our backpacks and went on our way to find beer.

If you couldn’t tell already, we were on a food hunt more than anything else.

Another few blocks away was Castle Praha (http://www.castlepraha.co.kr/). This place was a really awesome find. There was jazz playing from a radio station based in Pittsburg or Philadelphia. I didn’t even notice when the announcer spoke in English, it seemed like it fit the scene. But really I should have expected them to speak in Czech. I couldn’t help but think of my friends Kristen and Matt who are about to head home after a year’s stay in Prague! And now that I live in a country where beer is rice based (I didn’t even think that was possible), I have a whole new understanding of how lucky they were to have delicious beer at their fingertips! Castle Praha gave me just a taste of what I’ve been missing! We left, a bit buzzed, after a few beers and bowls of popcorn with no particular hurry to our next destination, another brewery.

Along the way we stopped at the Hongik Arts market and poked around at jewelry, handmade bags, and paintings and checked out the pretty awesome graffiti that reminds you this is a young neighborhood full of creativity. There was live music and some pretty awesome people watching. After a lackadaisical walk through the neighborhood we found ourselves climbing down into the subway station looking for Gagnam on the map.

Gagnam is the location of a few different breweries. We were looking for one in particular but with no luck settled for Big Rock Brewery. This was cool with me though! It kind of had an atmosphere and selection that reminded me of one of my favorite spots in Buffalo, Pearl Street. Ok, maybe not as many beers as Pearl Street but for Korea, it was pretty awesome. This was a strange experience for us non-Seoul foreigners. You see, we stare, just like Koreans would, at other foreigners. In Tongyeong, we all know each other and when we see new people in town, we introduce ourselves. Seoul has a large number of foreigners and so they are everywhere and pass people unnoticed, but we noticed every single one. We might have been a kind of creeper about it. I actually wonder if this Seoul foreigners look at us and can tell we aren’t from Seoul, my bet is that it is written all over our faces. Another great thing about Big Rock was that Brendan and Casey joined up with us!

Next Stop, City Hall for some World Cup action! Korea was playing Uruguay in the first game of the second round. The lawn in the center of the city was jammed pack with people for the pregame party where many famous Korean musicians preformed. Luckily for us, it started pouring just before the game started and scared away a piece of the crowd so we actually had a chance of finding a decent spot to view one of the four big screens. It was an awesome experience but it would have been way cooler if Korea won… but they lost 1-2. Then in was chaotic cab catching time but we survived and even had some good old Billy Joel to sing along to!

Hondae area nightlife is known in Seoul. We went to place that was as chill as anything and had some really cool style. CubaWang, yes, CubaWang was the name of the place. They played reggae music and had all sorts of interesting paintings on the wall, an array of decorations in bright and warm colors, homemade mojitos and board games. The menus were old Queen albums with label maker strips of options for food and drinks. I kicked Tucker’s ass in Connect Four like three times in a row while Brandon and Casey impressed the owner of the place with their Djembe stylings. The owner gifted us a cigar (a rarity here) that we passed around while we played some hearts and all of us were happy.

4 am found us back at the Yellow Submarine hostel watching a bit of the USA world cup with a few guys from California. We only lasted until half time before we called it quits.

Next day we made our way to H&M and did some shopping. Then we hit up a Pakistani restaurant for lunch and we feasted! It was wonderful! Then we walked over to Namdaemun Market to poke around. No one really found anything we needed so we moved along to Insadong. We went to a traditional tea house where we all got cold teas. They were all so delicious. And the décor of the place was beautiful and serene. We talked about not wanting to head back to our little city but we had to.

Too bad the soonest bus we could catch was 11pm which had us arriving back in TongYeong around 3am, and in a rain storm none the less. Needless to say waking up for work on Monday was not easy at all!! But the weekend was well worth it! I can’t wait to go back and play! It probably won’t be until October before I will get the chance again but we will see!!

TGIF

cepctheworld — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:23:00 GMT

I have a few things to note here....

1) I have been fairly stressed out this week. I can't stop thinking about what I am going to do for my summer break. Which country to choose... and then I remember that I must be friggin nuts to be stressed out over picking a vacation spot. And if that is the most of my worries... I have no worries in the world really.

2) The first Friday I taught here in Korea, I taught one class TGIF. Thank goodness it's Friday. That stems all the way back to that awesome Friday line up on TV that was funny family sitcom after funny family sitcom. Well, that is how TGIF got etched into my brain anyways. So one of my students, every Friday, since I started, comes and finds me to say to me, "Christina teacher, TGIF, TGIF!" I still never expect it and it always makes me smile.

3) I did not teach my favoite class today but I was lucky enough to be coming out of the cafeteria when they were lined up outside, waiting to go in. All of thier faces lit up when I saw them and the chorus of Hellos rang out strong. One student was even brave enough to whisper, "we miss you", even though I was walking with his regular English teacher.

4) Food things... on my way home from work I stopped in the Dunkin Donuts for the first time. They have Snyder's Honey Mustard & Onion pretzel pieces. Hell yea! And for dinner, a Vietnamese Restaurant just opened in my neighborhood so we are checking it out tonight! I am crossing my fingers for Pad See Ew!!!

Tomorrow's agenda.... I am cooking a real American Breakfast, hiking, language exchanging, going to see my friend Greg's band and watching the World cup match, Korea v Greece!

Photos: Yokjido

cepctheworld — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 23:19:00 GMT

Other peoples pictures. Just a few.

Yokjido 욕지도

cepctheworld — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 16:36:00 GMT

This past Saturday a group of us native English speaking folk decided to head out of TongYeong and into the island atmosphere. In TongYeong, there are plenty of quiet places to tuck into and relax and enjoy the mountains and sea, but sometime you still just got to get away. And, as I said in a previous post, the weather here has been great the past week or two. It will start to get much hotter and humid so I am trying to soak up as much of the comfortable weather as I can!

I got a free ride to the Ferry terminal on account that the taxi driver was taking me to the wrong terminal so I had to redirect us in the right direction. He felt bad so he gave me the ride for free. Hell yea… not a bad start to a mini trip.

The ferry took about an hour to get to the island but I assure you this is no boring ride, for a few reasons:

1) Seven foreigners traveling together equals hours of enjoyment for Korean people.

2) Greg brought his Martin Backpacker Guitar and then flashed his green/blue eyes and all of the Korean women got out their compacts to make their faces whiter and then fixed their hair.

3) All of us girls were wearing tank tops and shoulders are nearly forbidden here. (Although you can wear skirts that are shorter than your shirt is long, no problem.)

4) People wanted to take our pictures.

5) There was a comedian on the boat. Actually there seemed to be a comedian everywhere we went…

6) Oh and we nearly adopted a small boy who was thrilled at chatting with us in English. He was pretty cool.

7) Oh and the ride was beautiful as anything.

Yokjido is second largest island, after Hansado, that is accessible via the ferries from TongYeong terminal. The small harbor town that welcomed us off the ferry was busy with bright beach umbrellas that were blocking the sun and people who were fishing, embarking on a hike or just lazily making their way somewhere on a hot Saturday afternoon. There are three beaches on this island and we were planning on camping by or on one, if we could. We tired to rent dune buggies, but they wouldn’t let us on account that they could not explain to us the safety features clearly. We were disappointed. They did offer to drive us all around and show us the main attractions of the island but we politely declined and headed out on our own.

Over the hill, instead of around, we decided, and consequentially head first into the 2 o’clock sunbeams. It was hot. Our packs were heavy. We kept on going. We were happily reenergized when a man gave us raspberries fresh of the bush; and when we topped the hill, started heading down and saw the view of the hilly coastline.

Out in the distance, some of the wildly scattered islands could be seen. A pin pick of an island here and a substantial chunk of land there. Some are developed and you can see monuments, and houses. Some are too steep to have a harbor so it seems that maybe they have never been explored. The heat of the day forms a haze that erases the far off horizon and islands appear to be disconnected and floating as if I could click on them with my mouse and drag them here or there. The nearby water sparkles. Boats can be seen making their way along the sea, never having to cross each others paths.

We do make it to a destination after catching a weird display from two cows, a dog and their owner and many comments of how nice swimming will be once we stop. We are all gross, covered in sweat. We decided to make an abandon school yard our home for the night. Yea, it was kind of creepy but the school yard was flat, big enough for six tents, hell twenty tents if we wanted and it was close to the beach and bathroom. Pretty much the perfect spot. We wondered if we might get in trouble. I think we would have if we could speak Korean, but we can’t and no one can tell us we are doing something bad.

We went to the beach waded in and the water was cool. It was also full of…. Something… we thought some kind of egg but later we found out that it was kind of breathing. Yea, weird but anyways, they made an awesome thing to toss at someone.

Four other people from Tongyeong, miraculously, joined us and the relaxing began. We cooked dinner pretty much on the ocean while watching the sunset. Wine, soju and beer coated our brains. Light gave way to the coming night. We even caught glimpse of a few streaking shooting stars. It made me think of these two fishermen I once knew and I could help but smile to myself.

Eventually we figured out that a bag of food and, more importantly, soju was lost. A few adventures decided to head off to see id any of the neighboring restaurants or Minbak residents would have some to sell to us. Even better, we all get invited to a party at a minbak. A minbak is essentially a room that is rented out for sleeping. Usually a family or a group of friends will rent one to stay in over night. It is very cheap, usually about 40,000krw a night. It sometimes has a small bath room and a sink and it is about the size of normal bedroom. There is no bed, everyone sleeps on the floor. This is very normal for Korea. Many people sleep on the floor every night.

The guys that hosted us were working guys who were getting away from wives, kids and work. They were happy to share drinks, food and conversation with us. Some called their children, wives and brothers to have us speak to them in English and to brag about meeting us. Greg and Ben played the guitar for all of us for atmosphere and the party was on! This was the first time I had ice cold soju and it was SO good!

We drunkenly made our way back to the beachside for a bit before we called it a night.

The next morning I woke up to a freaking spider that was stealthy as anything, probably trained with Jackie Chan or something. But it was ok because we quickly devised a plan to get it out of the tent and there were no fatalities. The morning was rough for some of us. We gathered by the dilapidated swing set to cook breakfast while slowly packing up camp.

A truck pulled up to the gate of the school yard and we all immediately were like, ok, here is goes, we are going to get in trouble. These guys had serious written all over their faces and body language. One guy walked up to Ben and said in a commanding voice, “electric guitar” and he pointed towards a house. Low and behold, in what appeared to us to look like a shed was actually a little music studio. There was a keyboard, microphones in stands, an electric guitar and even a full drum set. So Ben and Greg jammed out for us and our new Korean friends.

We took the bus back to the ferry terminal. An older woman, immediately started shouting and looking and pointing at me and Morgan when we were dropped off. She was trying to flag us in and I was like, hell no! I am not going anywhere with this woman yelling but I did follow her and she had the lost bag of food and soju. Morgan had left it behind and she hung on to it for him, knowing we were the only foreigners probably on the island and that we would have to come back sooner or later and she would recognize us, no doubt.

This is just how it is here. You never know what is going to happen next.

What I've been listening to....

cepctheworld — Thu, 3 Jun 2010 14:17:00 GMT

I know a few important people who want to know this...

Anything by Broken Bells!

Vampire Weekend-Taxi Cab, Giving Up the Gun, Mansard Roof

Tokyo Police Cub- Your English is Good

Thievery Corporation- Lebanese Blonde

Sufjan Stevens-All the Trees of the Field Will, Come On! Feel the Illinoise!

OK Go- This Too Shall Pass

State Radio-Gunship Politico

Regina Spektor-Hotel Song

The Ruby Suns-Tane Mahuta, There are Birds

Radiohead-Idioteque (live)

Phoenix-I'm An Actor, Everything is Everything, Sometimes in the Fall

Passion Pit-Sleepyhead

Fleet Foxes-THe Blue Ridge Mountains

Flobots!!!! All of it!!!

Modest Mouse-Convenient Parking, Missed the Boat

Air-Talisman

Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Maps

Dispatch-The General

Radiohead-Talk Show Host

Ani Defranco- 32 flovors, Imperfectly, Joyful Girl

Atlas Sound-Washington School

The Avett Brothers-At The Beach, Three S's

Belle & Sebastian- Asleep on a Sunbeam

Iron & Wine- Sodom South Georgia, Each Coming Night

Joyful Girl

cepctheworld — Thu, 3 Jun 2010 14:12:00 GMT

Yea… I haven’t been updating this enough lately but it is the way it goes. I have been overwhelmed with thoughts and they are too much to try to condense into something someone else could read and comprehend. Either way I wanted to write that today it is absolutely beautiful here in TongYeong! My ride to school was gorgeous and I couldn’t help but feel truly happy. Yesterday was beautiful as well, and it was a holiday since there were elections for local officials. I had language exchange for 4 hours… yea… 4 hours of language exchange is exhausting!

I took a four hour nap, I needed it though! The night before hand I was playing cards until 4am. Then I walked to the pier by my house, read a book (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), and watched the sunset. When I walked off the pier I noticed a few of my friends relaxing and enjoying the seaside so I joined them. Slowly the party of three became a party of four and then a party of six! We went and had Shabu shabu for dinner and I called it a night. I’ll explain the whole shabu shabu process another time.

Anyways, I simply had to report that the weather here is splendid today. Just hot enough but not too hot! And there is just a breeze and when it hits your skin it’s like a polite kiss from cool grass. Of course this means that my students are generally rambunctious since they love the weather too. Luckily for them I am light hearted too!

North vs South Korea

cepctheworld — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:17:00 GMT

There is going to be no war with North Korea. There just isn't and if there is I am the furthest from the 38th parallel that a person can be pretty much. So I am safe! I have a friend in the Korean Coast guard who said they would make sure I could safely flee the country if shit hits the fan. Honestly though, it was over beer and it was a joke, no one here is really worried so I am not going to worry either. People here are more concerned about the upcoming world cup game against Greece then they are about North Korea! So you should all stop worrying as well! Thanks for the concern though!

Photos: Seoul: Namdaemun Market and Myeongdong

cepctheworld — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:31:00 GMT

I met some friends for dinner at Namdaemun market which is the most famous traditional Korean market. We got to it late at night and in the rain but they were still selling a little bit of everything in the world. From live fish to fruit, to furs, dishes, miniature dog outfits, face masks, purses and swords. We stumbled into eatery alley for a traditional Korean meal and soju! Then we walked over to Myeongdong which is a global shopping mecca!! I visited during the day too but at night it was much easier to navigate through the smaller crowds. Actually a H&M just opened here too!

Photos: Seoul: Bongeunsa

cepctheworld — Sat, 22 May 2010 20:35:00 GMT

The largest Buddhist temple in Seoul and it is also, ironically, in one of the busiest sections of the city. To go from the hustle and bustle of Coex, to the silence and sanctity of Bongeunsa, was unreal. The temple is only across the street from Coex and the Korean World Trade Center tower. The temples first buildings date back as far as 794. It was slightly raining and I ventured through the temple grounds with no umbrella and the Koreans all thought I was crazy! The rain wasn’t cold though and it made the tour more tranquil. I even meditated. Bongeunsa is also home to 15 of the sutras (get your minds out of the gutter). The woodblocks for 15 Buddhist sutras are preserved in Sutra Hall.

Photos: Seoul: Coex

cepctheworld — Sat, 22 May 2010 20:17:00 GMT

The largest underground shopping mall in Asia, is home to Korea's largest aquarium, one of the world's largest movie screens, 260 shops, banquet halls, a casino, a car dealership and over 100 snack bars or resturants. Crazy big... I blew my budget here. I was so happy to find a gigantic bookstore, with shelves of books in english. I was also had some real pizza and starbucks coffee! :) It was a fantastic place to people watch while listening to Broken Social Scene! People in Seoul get dressed to the nines to go to the mall... you wouldn't even believe it.

Day Two: Seoul

cepctheworld — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:41:00 GMT

Woke up Hongjing cooking breakfast, and I mean actual breakfast type food, not Kimbop or something but like eggs, fruit and toast. His German friend was visiting him from Beijing. I was so thankful they shared the eggs, toast and good conversation with me. They were both very interesting, smart guys and I think it is so cool that English is the language we all have in common. We really have no idea how lucky we are that we are native English speakers.

About 11am I head out for the day. I stopped at a little coffee shop on my way to the subway. Its walls were decked out with Elvis Presley paraphernalia, guitars, cowboy hats and old tin lunch boxes. It was a pretty cool place and for Seoul, it was cheap. My iced Americano was 2,500Krw, so roughly 2.50$. Strolling down, old alley like streets through the big city with my iced coffee felt like heaven. You all know how I am about my morning coffee! Plus Seoul was hot and sticky so a nice cold drink made my adventures more bearable.

I took two subways and 28 stops later I was at Coex. Coex is a shopping mall, but it is much more than that. There are 260 shops, 100 restaurants, a casino, a convention center, art galleries, an aquarium and a car dealership. People watching in Coex is like star gazing in Yellowstone National Park, there is so much to look at you are never quite sure where to start. There are so many foreigners in Seoul, so that made it doubly a treat. Just for the record, foreign men are always with Korean women but foreign women are never with Korean men.

Best thing about the Coex mall was the bookstore. It was HUGE and I mean like Fuccillo Hhhuuuuggggggeeeee! It had a very large English language section! I got to do one of my favorite things. I have been doing this, about once a month, for quite sometime now. I go to a bookstore, pick out 5 or six books I have heard of or that have been suggested to me and then I sit down and read bits of each of them. If I read more than ten pages and want to continue reading, I buy the book. I usually only let myself buy two books at a time. So this round I picked up The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahari.

When I had my fair share of consumerism I wondered along to Bungeunsa temple which was right across the street from Coex, in the heart of the city. Just like at Jogyesa all the lanterns were hung for Buddha’s birthday and it was beautiful. It was just slightly raining, not enough to feel uncomfortable but enough to somehow make the earth more silent. It was serene and I needed that after the mad rush of the mall. A stranger, in kindness, offered me his umbrella. There were many people there, paying respects to Buddha and meditating. I am not sure the real rules of greeting Buddha in a temple before you meditate but I slipped into a hall, not even close to unnoticed, that just isn’t a possibility here, and I meditated and felt this peace.

Soon my friends Jeff and Katie were calling to meet up for dinner. It was 6:30 already? The day flew by!! I caught the subway to Naemdaemun Market. Many of the stands were taken down already but the ones that were still up were very cool. There was so much stuff there to buy and I had already spent enough money! But I did buy a face mask or two. Korean people are obsessed about their skin so there are many face shop stores full of treatments and make up and face masks. Sometime they will give you face masks for free just for coming into their store, they call it service. I like service. Me+free stuff=Happy!

Hunger got the best of us very quickly and we found ourselves down eatery alley which was a little walk way, closely lined with Korean restaurants. We settled into one and ordered up dinner, complete with soju! It was delicious. Kimchi soup, dol sot bibimbop, some pig intestine… you know the norm, lol!

Then we walked to Meyong dong which is like shopping central! When I had been there the day before, it was wall to wall people, but at night it had a much different atmosphere. There were still some people around but not too many that you felt uncomfortable. All the store fronts were lit up and people were just there for the sight of it, or to grab dinner and a drink. It was nice and much more fun than the chaos it was the first time I went there. We decided to ‘Mart it’ which means go to a Mart (you know like a little 711 type dealio) and buy liquor or beer and sit outside and drink. People do this, literally, everywhere, all the time here. It doesn’t even matter what day of the week or time of the day. So we sat on the out skirts of the hustle and bustle and watched it parade on by.

I took the Subway back to Hongik University area where loads of partiers piled out with me, dressed to the 9 for a Saturday night on the town. It started raining pretty hard. So I walked a few blocks to my Guesthouse and grab my rain jacket and walked my way around Hondae. It was freaking cool and I cannot wait to go back and party my ass off there! There where soooo many bars! But I called it a night since I was broke, tired and alone. Still I was a very happy girl!

Overall, I loved Seoul!!! I cannot wait to go back and get another glimpse of this huge and diverse city!

Day One:Seoul

cepctheworld — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:54:00 GMT

I woke up at 9am and hit up a family mart for a T Money Card which is a card you can charge up to take the subway. I tossed 20,000krw on it and when I left on Sunday I still had 10,000 left! It was so cheap and the subways are really nice and clean and spacious. They were also very easy to navigate and like 75% of the maps were in English, thank god! I took the subway to the Gyeongbokgung Palace. There I waited in a very long line in the sun to get a ticket to get it which only cost me 3,000krw. T

The palace complex was beautiful and massive. I took my time wondering around getting lost and found again for about 3 hours. Then I went into the National Korean Folk Art Museum and took in some culture. There was an older gentleman who spent many years in London and so he knew English very well and was happy to use with me and so he accompanied me for half of the museum giving me a guided tour in English! I learned a lot about why things are the way they are here.

Then I made my way to Insadong via foot. I shopped around until I met up with Terrence and Megan, a couple who is from WNY area. They were so helpful in telling me all about different areas in Seoul. We made our way through Insadong to the chicken on a stick man… and I’ll tell you. This guy was not messing around. I had the best chicken of my life from this guy, thanks Megan, for introducing me to heaven on a stick!

Then we grabbed the subway to Meyongdong which reminded me of NYC’s Upper East Side. Shopping, shopping, and shopping. Anything cool and fashionable could be found here. We stood in line to get into H&M. They make you form a line so only a certain amount of people can be in the store at a time because otherwise it would be so jammed up you wouldn’t be able to maneuver though the store. I had my backpack on which made it real hard to shop and I wasn’t in the mood for so much mosh pitting so I got on out of Myeongdong with a promise to myself that I would come back another time.

I headed back to Insadong for the Lantern Lighting festival at Jogyesa temple. It was so cool to be in this mass of people chanting. For about an hour and a half it was just thousands of people chanting to Buddha, I guess birthday wishes. You could walk through the main temple which holds three ginormous (gigantic+enormous, for those of you who aren’t familiar with my lingo) Buddha statues. Then they lit the lamps. There were thousands of lamps in every color. It was amazing the way they lit up the face of the people and the night sky.

I met up with Jeff and Katie from New Zealand who happened to see on Facebook that I was in Seoul and called me to meet up! It was a wonderful treat! And then, by coincidence we ran into Lizzie and her friend Austin. So the groups of us were starving and decided to do dinner in Itaewon.

Itaewon is the foreigner village of Seoul. People from all over the world live there and visit there. There were more foreigners than Koreans in Itaewon. We wondered around, being pulled in different directions by different ethnic foods. French, Mexican, Thai, American….. we chose Indian. It was a treat and some of the best Indian I have had. Then we met Lizzie’s cousin Michael who is a professor at Sky University in Seoul. We went for margaritas and were surrounded by people who spoke English! It was a very "pub"-ish atmosphere and the place was called Gecko’s. We rocked out of there with a new friend dragging us to two other bars. At the last bar, the atmosphere was real cool. Dark, kind of seductive but we made some friends with a drunken group of Australian dudes and met the cofounder of Facebook. It was a pretty good night. Got back to my guest house safely even though a little late, 3:30 am, and slept like a baby.

Photos: Seoul: Insadong and Jogyesa Temple

cepctheworld — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Insadong is the neighborhood in Seoul to visit if you want to learn about Korean Tradition. It is a street full of vendors selling anything traditional, tea houses, art galleries and coffee shops. It is very beautiful and lively. In Insadong is the head temple ok Korea's largest buddhist sect, Jogyejong. The temple, Jogyejong was a must visit on May 21st because it was Buddha's Birthday and there was a lamp lighting festival. It was beautiful and very peaceful after pushing your way through the tightly packed streets of Insadong and the haggeling with the salesmen.

Photos: Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace

cepctheworld — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:30:00 GMT

This palace was the main seat of government activity of the Joseon Dynasty which ruled Korea with Seoul as the capital from 1392-1910. It is a very large compound and the grouds also holds the Korean Folk Art museum. The museum rules were no pictures inside! Sorry!!

Just Getting There: Night One in Seoul

cepctheworld — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:17:00 GMT

So this past Friday May 21^st was Buddha’s Birthday, a national holiday in Korea. So I had been planning to shoot up to Seoul for the long weekend and check out some sites. My co-teacher let me leave school a bit early so could pack and catch the 6:40pm express bus to Seoul with Lizzie. She was meeting up with people but I told her I wanted to do my own thing for the most part. I really didn’t want to make too many plans and I wanted to go along the way the day would take me. It turned out to be an award winning weekend in my book for many reasons but of course, nothing can be too easy.

Thursday night we caught the bus with the idea that we would be to Seoul in 4, maybe four and a half hours. There was traffic just outside the city and so we didn’t get to the bus terminal until 11:30pm. Trouble with that is, the subway closes at midnight. So we were heading in the same direction, her stop would have been only one after mine, if we could take the subway. Instead we caught the subway to the place where we would have transferred lines but we couldn’t so we meandered out to the street in hopes of grabbing a cab. First thing we saw was a real drunk woman in too high of heels who was sitting in the street, obviously fallen over from too much heel and too much liquor.

It took a long time and then the first cab we grabbed, what ended up being a local taxi, refused to take us to our destination. So we found a bigger street and waited and no one stopped. A drunkenly couple made their way over to us and helped give us directions and helped us to grab a cab. I mean this young man and his girlfriend refused to leave our sides until we were safely in a cab and heading in the right direction. Oh Korean hospitality, you got to love it.

My friend Laura suggested that I stay at this guesthouse when I went to Seoul. So I emailed the guy and he emailed me back to say that he no longer has a guesthouse but that I could do a homestay. He has a two bedroom apartment and rented his spare room to me for 20,000krw a night, so about 20 dollars This meant I didn’t have to jump from hostel to hostel and that I would have a safe place to keep my backpack so I said yes and I am glad I did. Hongjing met me at the subway station to walk me to his apartment. Hongjing was a very welcoming. He is very much into the art scene by Hongik University area which is famous for the young alternative artist crowd that gathers here. Often referred to as Hongdae area, it is one of the most popular places to party as well but his place was a ways away from the craziness and the old small streets were littered with polite coffee shops and small shops and restaurants. It was so quiet that one could hardly believe they were in one of the world’s most densely populated cities.

Photos: Mireksa Temple, Mireksan, and around TongYeoung

cepctheworld — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:01:00 GMT

Two temples on the slopes of Mireksan Mt. The view from Mireksan. A concert byt the turtle ship and shopping around in TongYeoung!

Photos: Wall Painting Villiage (Dongpirang)

cepctheworld — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:33:00 GMT

The poorest area of the city, so many years ago they were going to tear it down when a group of locals decided to make it art and painted large murals on the walls of the villiage. It is repainted every year and they hold a competition for best mural. This year, two Americans won 2nd place!