ing

Wednesday was a bit of a depressing day. I had read online that for flights out of Incheon, you have to book at least 5 days in advance. Since I was planning to leave on Monday, I figured I couldn’t put it off any longer. Since my attempts at booking by myself were proving too expensive, too confusing, and too Korean, I set off to Itaewon to try to find a travel agent.

First, though, I wanted to find somewhere for lunch. My goal for the week was to try to eat a different countries’ food every day (I figured Nepali food might be SLIGHTLY hard to find in Truro). I had heard there was a good Thai restaurant in Itaewon, so I tried to find it. I walked from one end of Itaewon to the other, several times, but with no luck. I did have the good fortune, however, to see a crazy Korean lady, wrapped in the American flag, walking up and down the streets shouting all crazy. Good times.

Anyway, eventually I found a different Thai Restaurant, and I figured I’d give it a try. I pretty quickly regretted going in, because I was the only person. In the entire restaurant. OMG awkward. I didn’t even enjoy the food, really, because I was trying to hard to get out of there. Plus they charged me tax! The only place in Korea to charge tax is stupid Buddha’s Belly. Not a fan, I guess is what I’m saying.

En route to finding a travel agent, I unwittingly walked up what I now know is “Hooker Hill.” I was just trundling along, minding my own Ps and Qs, when the door of Peach Phuzz – which I’m sure a very reputable establishment – pops open. This lady with a sequined dress and big boots comes out, “Hello sir! Come in! Come in for one beer!” I’m still unawares at this point, so I just smile, “No thanks!” and keep walking up the hill. Well, the second I pass Peach Phuzz, the next door, to a place called “ing” opens. “Hello Sir! Please come in, I want to show you something!” “Yeah. No. Definitely not.” I pick up the pace. Maybe I’m a little weirded out. I pass ing, and approach the door to “Nymph.” I maybe should’ve been expecting something, since the last two doors were the same… and the third door was called Nymph. “Hello! Would you like to come in? Please come in for a beer!”


Anyway…

I found the travel agent, Unique Travel Travel Boutique. Kimberley hooked me up with a ticket home. To drown my sorrows about leaving, I went to the Starbucks around the corner for a Christmas Latte. And a nap. Yup, I definitely fell asleep in the Starbucks… For an hour and a half. Oops.

"This is called the peace bell... It doesn't work"

Tuesday! Ugh. Earliest morning. I had to get up at 6:30 for my meeting at 7:10 for the DMZ Tour! I met the tourguide at the Lotte Hotel, and we headed off. They told me the night before, when I confirmed the tour, that it was still available, eve though I was the only person. Oh my. This would be awkward. Luckily, there were 7 other people on the tour. Apparently they all booked between 8pm one day and 7am the next?
The drive to the DMZ takes about an hour, and on the way the guide told us about the history of the Koreas, and the DMZ itself. After every sentence, she asked, “Do you understand?” When we got there, our first stop was some bridge. I wasn’t listening. But next, we had to go into the military area, and a soldier with a big gun got on the bus to check our passports, and our tour guide STOOD BEHIND HIM STROKING IT! I was a little bit scared he was going to freak out and shoot us.
Next we went to the infiltration tunnel, which was pretty cool. North Koreans dug these tunnels from North Korea into South Korea, and they could move 30,000 troops through them in an hour. Unfortunately, they were “Korean-sized,” as our tour guide put it, which means that they come about to my chin. I had to walk through the whole thing hunched over, while old ladies laughed at me. We got helmets, and by the time we got back to the top, my helmet was all scraped to hell from me hitting it against the rock top of the tunnel. We also watched a hilarious propaganda video about “freedom fighters” and “communists.”
Next, we went to the Dora Observatory, which gives us our only view of the actual DMZ. The De-Militarized Zone is 2 km on either side of the border between North and SouthWe could see the two villages: South Korea’s is called Freedom Village, and North Korea’s is called Propaganda Village. Guess who named them? No one actually lives in Propaganda Village, but they have a staff who turn lights on and off in the buildings, to make it seem inhabited. Also found in the DMZ is the world’s largest flagpole. South Korea built a flagpole to show their national pride, or what have you. North Korea built a BIGGER one, just because they could.
Our last stop was Dorasan station. It’s this fake train station that’s “not the last stop in South Korea, but the first stop to North Korea”… Except for no trains actually go to North Korea. Nevertheless, you can get a stamp in your passport saying you’ve been to North Korea. On the drive home, the tour guide talked to all the people on the bus. There were two people from Denmark who have already been traveling for 2 months, and they’re not going home until April! They’d already done Russia, Mongolia, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Seoul, and they were going to do Tokyo, Honolulu, and then drive around the US for 2 months. Must be nice!
When we got back from the DMZ, I tried attempt #2 of the van Gogh exhibit. I even got in this time! None of his really famous paintings were there, but it was cool to even see not famous paintings by a famous painter. Oddly enough, though, the best thing I saw in the gallery was by a Korean artist. After here, I walked through Namdaemun Market, which gets more cracked out than I even thought possible for Christmas. Every vendor, for some reason, has life sized dancing Santas. In a place where its already hard to move for all the people, adding hundreds and hundreds of Santas does NOT help the matter.

My last stop of the day was going to be “Ballerina who Loves a B-Boy,” a dance show near Hongdae. Alas, it was cancelled, so I just browsed my way through Hongdae’s awesome stores (and to the Coffee Bean), and went home.

There are 5 letters in Nepali

Monday started with several failed attempts at culture. I went to the City Hall station, and trundled around until I found the Seoul Museum of Art, which is hosting a van Gogh retrospective. I found it, eventually, but it was closed. I headed back to the station, and then out the other way to the Rodin Museum. Closed.

I was getting hungry anyway, so I headed to Dongmyo, because I’d seen a sign in the subway for Himalayan food, which sounded interesting. I didn’t even know what Himalayan food would be (yak? Sherpa??), so I thought I would give it a try. I know it was at Exit 8, so I exited and started walking. I got to the next station, and I hadn’t seen it, so I went back to the station, and tried the other way. Nothing. Back to the station. Tried the third direction. Nope. Back to the station, fourth try. Still Nothing. That’s weird. So I walked back to the station one last time, dejected.

Just when I was arriving at the station, I looked up above Exit 8, and there it was, big as life, literally ON exit 8. Which explains why I didn’t see it. So, I go down into the station, as to cross the street. I trundle over and back up the 12 million (or so) stairs, and somehow come up again on the wrong side of the street! Anyway, I eventually made it to the restaurant, and it was pretty awesome. I had this spicy dried lamb dish, and vegetable fritters and bread. Plus it came with all this fancily-shaped vegetables, and milk tea. It was all pretty delicious.

Back on to the subway next, and toward Yeouiaru, for a cruise of the Han River. I found the dock well enough, and got my ticket. She told me Dock A, Gate 1, so I headed off, but I found that Gate 1 was the wrong boat. So I found some guys and asked if they knew. They said they were going on the same cruise, so I followed the around, but they had no idea where they were going. I found a lady and asked her, and she just shouted “Go! Go!” So I asked one last person, and he took my ticket and ran away. I followed him, but he told me I was going the wrong way. Anyhoo, I found it, and when I got on there were a total of 2 other people on board. Then the 2 lost guys got on, so a whopping 5 of us enjoyed the cruise.


There were some guys windsailing on the river (in December, brrr), but otherwise not much to see. The coasts of the river are fairly ugly. You can easily tell which side is which though. My side has lots of little dirty hovels, and looks pretty ghetto. BBro and Kendra’s side, meanwhile, has lots of tall skyscrapers and big, clean office buildings.

My side:

Their side:
Wherever the cruise dropped us off, I started walking. I was just going to head to the nearest subway station, but I saw signs for Samseong, so I went to COEX instead. I was going to go to the kimchi museum, I figured it would be good for a laugh, but it too was closed. Apparently the only day EVER that things in Korea are closed are the day I try to do them. I wandered around the mall instead, and then went to meet BBro and Kendra for dinner.

Headline: White Man Confused by Giant Sojus

On Saturday morning, I woke up at the crack, and headed off for Korean class. We learned how to say pervert, ghost, and gangster, and how to ask what Korean words mean in English, and vice versa. After class, our group, and the advanced group and the teachers all went off for lunch together. Note: if something is listed on the menu as “pizza” anything, it just means it has cheese on it.

After lunch, Daniel, the minister of the church from whom we’re ripping off Korean lessons came and took us to the Changgyeonggung palace, near Hyehwa. We saw all the sights, including the flagpole that is a national treasure, and the place where they buried the prince’s placenta and umbilical cord. Also of note: at one point Japan totally pwned the palace, and they turned it into a zoo, just because they hated the Koreans and they wanted to degrade them. You sure showed them...



After the palace, BBRO and I headed off to meet Kendra – finally, a week after she’s been here. She lives at Cheonho, on the purple line, and both her school and her apartment are amazing. Avalon is definitely no YBM, we’ll say that… We met some of the teachers from Kendra’s school, and all of us went to Hongdae to a concert supporting AIDS. The music was fairly horrible, but the drinks were cheap, so it didn’t much matter.

Kendra's School:


My School:


After a few hours, we went back to Kendra’s building, and there’s a noraebang IN the building! We went there for a few hours, and sang lots of jams. At one point, one of the guys left for a smoke, and came back with a middle-aged Korean man, who apparently lives in the building. He sang a song in Korean. It was utterly bizarre, and amazing. Then, Mr. Kim (I don’t know what his actual name is, but odds are--) left. About 10 minutes later, he came back, and started taking beers out of his jacket pocket. Somehow he had 7 huge beers in there. He was awesome…

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Sunday was meant to be an extra-exciting day, and we had lots planned, but it turns out that after out night of noraebanging, that we were all a little tired, so we didn’t even get on the road until about 2:30. Since we couldn’t find the sex museum, which was our original plan, we headed to Itaewon for some shopping. The first person we saw there was one of the guys from Kendra's school, who is also (by the way) our new arch nemesis.

Afterwards, we headed back to Cheyongyangni for dinner, but both of our “places” were closed. So we got some sort of spicy soup. It was the first time for Kendra to eat sitting on the floor, her first kimchi, and her first try with chopsticks, so it was pretty entertaining.

Lastly, we went back to Hyehwa, because on our journeys through the day before, we found an Iceberry, which we can clearly never resist. On our trek back to the subway, there were these 5 guys dressed as huge bottles of soju. There was a lady from some news thing too, who was trying SO hard to get a picture of me with them.