Seoul

Hello there blogger land readers,

Here is a little update since Eliza last "blogged".

Day Seven - Back in Seoul and searching for this Korean Bath thing. First we tried to find the Hurest Spa. Found the building, which is a start in a city with no street addresses. Unfortunately for your truly, the building was under construction. An informative sign let us know the grand reopening is set for 2009. Bit of a problem since are only here until Monday.

Then, because we had stumbled upon a new shopping district, we decided to find me a messenger bag (or merse as Eliza calls it. I have no idea what she is talking about, but I think she is mocking me) so I can better carry items on day trips. And by shopping district please picture Bellevue Square Mall during the Christmas shopping rush. Now add twice as many people. Then make it outside. Add street vender's yelling, in a foreign language, with portable PA systems. Oh and this goes on for six or seven city block in every direction. (After returning to the hostel I found a map. The area is called Myeong-dong and is ten block by nine blocks.) The shops on this area are all upscale (Gap, Puma, Banana Republic, and a bunch of others in Korean).

Since this is obviously my cup of tea, we moved to another shopping district. All still in search of a messenger bag. This time we're in the right place. Another outdoor market, but this one specializes in street vendors unloading blatant knock-offs and other inexpensive merchandise. After several different shops I spotted the bag for me. A Diesel Brand copy (or so Eliza informed me after my purchase. Not that I know anything about the Diesel line of bags, or how a German engineer from the 19th century is associated with my new bag from Korea). Anyway, nice bag with lots of zippers and pockets. And not to shabby of a price at 11,000 Won ($11.75). We'll see how long the stitching holds.

To celebrate our successful bargain shopping, and to toast the vendor who probably just ripped us off, we sat down to a nice dinner of Korean BBQ Pork. Really tasty. The grill is right at your table so you get to watch you food cook to its scrumptious perfection. I would highly recommend it. Now, if only I could tell you what it was called or the name of the restaurant.



Day Eight - Off again to find the Korean Bath. Our first stop ended with no luck, but there was a construction site right were the guide book listed the bath location. No informative sign this time, just a hole in the ground.

Try three. Step one: building located. Step Two: not under construction. Step Three: English sign. Step right up, I think we have a winner. So, a Korean bath is really nice on tired and sore legs. There are hot baths, cold baths, dry saunas, wet saunas, masseuses, masseurs, and a host of other relaxation methods (ladies and gents have separate facilities). So, after twenty minutes, I was done with this, but Eliza told me not to meet her for an hour. And being the dutiful boyfriend, I found a couch with a tv. Now I am not sure why "New York Minute" staring Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen was playing on the men's side. But I watched it, in Korean. After the hour was up, I headed to the lobby to fetch a relaxed and wholly content Eliza.

We followed this up with a dinner of another grill at your table meal.



Day Nine - DMZ Tour.

The DMZ is a highly humorous and dangerous place at the same time. The military there is on 24hr alert and at any time is subject to the attack on an unpredictable regime. There is an immense collection up of fire power on both sides of the border. However, the posturing done by both sides is kinda funny. All in the name of propaganda there is a list of thing you can and can't do. For instance any acknowledgment of the North Korean Soldiers is forbidden, but lining up in a tour group and taking pictures is okay. Sort of spy vs. spy.

At this time I would like to let you all know Eliza and I have been to North Korea and returned safely. Part of the tour (and the highlight in my opinion) is traveling to the JSA (Joint Security Area) where you are taken to the chief negotiation room, half is in North Korea and half is in South Korea. The room is fairly nondescript. It is about 15ft by 50ft and consist of a couple of tables and chairs. Items you would find in any office conference room. As part of a tour group, we were allowed to roam freely inside of this room. This meant you could walk to the North Korean side of the building and be in North Korea. I have a picture of my feet in North Korea (I'll post it later). Here is a picture of Eliza and I with a ROKA Soldier. If push came to shove, I think I could take him.



After the JSA we were taken to an observation point were you can see several miles into North Korea. It was kinda hazy, but North Korea is definitely there. Following th observation point was a trip down Tunnel #3. Creatively named as it is the third tunnel found dug into South Korea by the north. We were not allowed to take any picture so you will have to take my word on this: North Korean soldiers must be short. I am not the tallest person in the world, and I hit my head every twenty step or so (luckily I had on my required safety helmet). The tunnel is about 5ft-8in tall on average, and probably the same across (wide enough for two people). We were told that the tunnel was designed for 30,000 soldier to pass through in one hour. They must have been able to run without worrying about their heads.



After returning to Seoul we did some sight seeing and souvenir shopping in Insadong. Insadong is a nice neighborhood in the center of Seoul (also happens to be were we are staying).

Dinner was fried rice with chicken and vegetables. This we ordered off the picture menu with an English description, so we knew what we were getting, or so we thought. Turns out we were mostly right. The vegetables were green AND white onions, there was barely enough chicken to choke a chipmunk, but the rice was plentiful. Despite my description the dish was really tasty. And we would eat at the restaurant again (if we could find it).


Day Ten - Last Day in Seoul. Today we started off with a lazy morning. After rallying ourselves out of the hostel (by 1pm), (Eliza was actually the earlier riser, something I ate the previous day caused minor stomach problems, so I was none too motivated for moving) we went to the Olympic Park (Seoul hosted in 1988). The Olympic Park was alive with families playing soccer, volleyball, and a roller blading team. It's a nice park with lots of open grass and is probably quite busy in the summer. I would compare it to Green Lake, but with three or four full sized Olympic venues and scaled to a city of ten million.

We followed this up with a walk along the Cheonggye Stream and the shopping area along its banks. Dinner was a corn dog and a fry dog. That's right Fry Dog. They take a hot dog, shove it on a stick, wrap it in french fries, and deep fat fry it. I am going to mass market this when I get back to the States. Anybody reading this is free to start the process, but I get ten percent of the gross revenue. I think it will be a winner. We have nicknamed it "heaven on a stick".



My Final Thoughts on Seoul and South Korea: This is the largest feeling city I have been to. I think Paris might have a larger population, but not density. There are these housing projects that are twenty-five stories high and must house thousand of people per building. There are underground malls on the walkways that take you under road intersections that are too large to cross above ground. There are vendors in the subway, vendors everywhere. One can not turn around without being offered something for sale. South Korea and Seoul are filled with nice people, we have never been lost without someone trying to guide us in the right direction. The food here is good, as long as you know what your ordering. Will put this on the list of places to revisit.

-John (and Eliza)




P.S.

Eliza's pictures are up

http://picasaweb.google.com/LizaInAsia