Seoul Searching

Attention: this post is rated PG-13. Those faint of heart, weak in the stomach, or a little too visual, consider yourself warned. This blog is uncensored.

What a blast! Courtney and I kicked off our five day vacation marathon Saturday morning with a bus ride to Yongju and a little kim bop (california rolls) for the road. Too bad that kim bop is still haunting me. At one point I ate a whole pickle which tasted a little strange going down and equally awful coming back up... I puked four times on the bus. Good thing the kim bop lady gave us black plastic bags with our food. When I finally felt like the purging was finished, I climbed towards the front of our rocking bus, puke bag in hand, and acted out puking for the bus driver, pointing to the bag and then to the road. Needless to say he pulled over in a hurry. Somewhere out there in Korea-land is my puke bag sitting neatly tied on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant. I hope no one mistook it for anything besides garbage... Though I felt noticeably better after puking, I certainly wasn't cured. I'm still feeling a bit nauseated after eating. Courtney didn't puke, though I encouraged her to. It was probably better to get them out than let them stay. Anyhow, she made it through the day without anything other than a stomach ache.

Upon arrival in Yongju, we met up with Courtney's friend Jill a.k.a Gina (apparently Jill sounds like the medical term for cervix in Korean, thus she changed her name--I would too). We walked around and enjoyed a city at least three times bigger than our own. After a little bit of shopping, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant where no one spoke English. After unsuccessfully trying to order food, we got out our dictionaries and pointed to "surprise" and then to ourselves. What a mistake! Those waiters brought us two of the spiciest dishes I've ever tasted! Holy cow! I think the tastebuds melted off my tongue! Needless to say, we ate less than half of one dish and barely touched the other. I imagine those guys who took our order were sitting in the back laughing about the "surprise" they gave us foreigners!

And lo, kim bop awoke from the dead. In a split second, I had to crap like I've never crapped before. I stood up and yelled the only thing I know Koreans understand: toilet! Just then a man walked into the restaurant with a roll of tp in hand (which I took with haste) and said, "Where?" Another man surfaced, grabbed my arm, led me out the front, and around the corner to a dark hallway with a bathroom/closet at the end. Forget the stench of pee or the missing door lock--I was on the verge of a MAJOR breakthrough! Alas, in a few short moments I took back all of my squatty potty praise--I missed the porcelin hole-in-the-ground and instead sprayed the back wall. Ick. The worst part: korean bathrooms rarely have soap. Cleaning up wasn't fun and even worse was walking around town and the restaurant trying not to touch myself or anyone else.

To top off my "perfect" day, I slept on a hard wood floor; every half hour I woke up to numb body parts. It was a rough start to my vacation, but worth it. I may have suffered the rath of kim bop, but I was happy and ready for another adventure.

Day two proved to be one.

Early in the morning, us three girls crawled out of bed (some of us, literally) and prepared for a hiking adventure! At 9 AM, four other foreign teachers (plus two Koreans) met us for a trek up Sobak Mountain. I thought it was going to be an easy hike--it wasn't. To begin, we parked way too far from the trail head and eventually hitched a ride from a man driving up the steep mountain in that direction. The trail wasn't any better. I needed both my hands and my feet to scale such a steep grade. It was fun, but exhausting. I'm not a fast hiker, thus I summited last, but had I known fog with the texture of pea soup would shroud the top that afternoon, I wouldn't have summited at all. I would have saved myself a significant amount of pain and turned back. However, I made it--alive. My reward: a bundle of grapes for the trip down. They almost made up for the 6 mile roundtrip obstacle course.

Following the hike, we all picked up some lunch at a traditional Korean folk village (ie. tourist trap). After that, and authentic Korean teahouse. Following a friend's recommendation, I ordered the date tea, which tasted like pureed dates--sooooo good! It was a relaxing afternoon with a beautiful lake view, a hot drink, good company, somber lighting, inviting chairs, and just enough chill in the air to make you appreciate being indoors. C'est tres beau.

Only one thing was left to make the day complete: a visit to the public bath. Koreans are famous for their public baths/spas which feature numerous tubs with every soaking agent from herbed water to coffee to mud. The one we went to that night was pretty sparse (only two hot tubs, one cold pool, and three saunas) but it was a nice introduction to one Korean tradition usually opted out of by most foreigners. Why? Because you go naked. The baths aren't co-ed (thank heavens!) but you do have to strip down and sport your skin, which as a foreigner, usually involves some staring. Lucky for us, the place was closing (which we found out later) but since they couldn't explain that to us, we were allowed to take our time and enjoy the spa by ourselves--just us three girls. The bath house in Yongju may not have been everything I expected (the guide book really builds up the image of a perfect escape) but it was everything I needed. We were pretty beat up after climbing that mountain.

After we had our fill, we visted Gina's co-teacher who lives nearby. It was really nice to meet another co-teacher because the more I meet, the more perspective I gain on how inadequate my c0-teachers are. After we left her place, I realized how unhelpful my teachers really are (more to come on that later). But I gained much more from her than just evaluating standards for my school, I also gained an invaluable perspective on the plight of Korean women (more to come on this as well). I went to bed with a lot to think about which proved itself useful--once again I found myself waking up every half hour with numb body parts. I eventually resigned my sleeping efforts and spent the night organizing the day's events and converstaions in my nice mental file cabinet.

In the morning Courtney and I caught a train for Seoul. It was a beautiful three hour trip through Korea's mountains and no one got sick. We didn't really have any plans as to what we were going do once we got there, and since it was a national holiday, we weren't really sure what we could do. We expected most places to be closed. But then again, we also expected Seoul to be crowded and the train sold out, yet neither turned out to be the case. Our first stop was the COEX mall for some food which was uniquely set below a huge artistic office building and had a roller skating rink in the center. It was pretty cool but we were only there for the food. No need to stick around. After we ate, we headed up the street to some famous temple (can't remember the name) and hoped to see a live music/prayer show by some monks; unfortunately the day's show was cancelled for Chusok. Instead we just wandered around, took pictures, and enjoyed the nice weather.

Next stop: a river night cruise. We caught a beautiful sunset over Seoul, enjoyed one of Seoul's most beautiful parks, pet a few dogs, chatted up a couple Koreans, and boarded the boat. I've never done a city tour by boat before but had a blast. Seoul is great by day but amazing by night. We certainly enjoyed the lights, the bridges, and the company of a Korean couple who sat next to us on the deck. I even ran in to a teacher from my school! It's a small world indeed! What are the chances that a foreigner meets someone they know in a city of 11 million people? I was please to meet his wife and two sons and they were happy to buy us dinner--though I insisted they didn't need to, but you know Koreans... "No" is a word they don't use.

After the cruise, we decided to check out a highly acclaimed jazz club near the US military base in Itaewon. The music was good, the club was nice, the wine was decent, the neighborhood seedy. Courtney wanted to find a hotel in the area instead of trying to make a metro train before they closed. I was hesitant. The area looked like Capitol Hill (Seattle) meets Vegas--a bad combination. At one point she suggested we go down this dark alley between clubs in hopes of finding the motel in our guide book but I had to draw the line there. If I wanted to get raped, I couldn't pick a better alley. Even as I steered us back towards the main drag a man walked by saying, "I wouldn't go down there." Eeek! Just then a couple of suspicious looking black guys asked if they could help us; I said we were fine but Courtney told them we were looking for the Hilltop Motel. Bad move. I don't think it's wise to tell strange men in the middle of a drunken club scene where you're heading. Their response: "Oh, hmmm... Well, I'm sure it's around here somewhere." Cue flipiant hand wave. "We'll help you look for it. We can take you there." Yeah, right... Courtney and I looked at each other like, "Let's leave now." We said no thanks and turned around.

As most health spas are open 24/7 and the guide book mentioned that lots of people sleep there, I suggested we get on the metro and make our way to one I had marked out on a map--a much better alternative to Itaewon at midnight. In addition, the $8 spa entrance fee was much better than a dirty $30 love-motel room.

We couldn't find the one I was looking for but found ourselves in the company of two nice Korean college girls who led us to a much nicer and newer spa in the area. However, this time, we weren't the only ones there. Luckily no one stared and we were so tired that walking around naked in the presence of other naked strangers didn't both us at all. I even went out on a limb and tried the Korean skin scrub, but I'll write about that in another blog. All I can say is that a lot of thins go through your mind when you're sitting on a massage table, completely naked, with an equally exposed Korean woman rubbing your body with scotch pad-like gloves. After soaking for a couple hours in a much needed hot tub, we hit the floor--again--in a co-ed sleeping room with about 60 other Korean twenty-somethings. Neither of us really slept well since one man was snoring pretty loud and people were continually walking up and down the creaking wooden stairs next to our piece of floor.

Tuesady morning, after a nice bath, we headed back to Itaewon. Even though the district was a little more than sketchy, we still had some unfinished business. There was supposed to be an English bookstore and foreign food market in the area. Luckily the place was significantly nicer by day, though still the most littered street in all of Korea. (Most Korean streets are spotless; I guess it's the Americans' fault.) However, we found what we were looking for, purchased a couple books and magazines, and even got some bagels and cream cheese for breakfast at Starbucks. It's so nice that pretty much every major city in the world has this one little piece of home in it. :)

Following our Itaewon excusion, we set off on another Seoul search: a walking tour of a shamanist village and temple. We were pretty confused once we got off the metro since the road to the village has pretty much disappeared under a couple apartment complexes since the guide book was published, but we found it none the less. I can't say that I reached any spiritual heights but we did climb a hill of Sobak Mountain's calliber. I wanted to die. We were both still in pain from our hike despite all the hot tubbing we'd been doing. But the climb was worth it; we took in some pretty spectacular views of the whole city, however, we were forbidden to take photos at this sacred site. Oh well. C'est la vie. On our walk back to the metro (which was a long way down hill from the temple) two Korean men pulled up from behind us (they too were coming from the temple) and offered Courtney and I a ride. She just said "Sure!" and hopped in. I wasn't so sure--I would never hop in a stranger's car back home--but this is Korean and there really isn't any crime here. At any rate, even though I was uncomfortable, I decided it was safer for both of us if we were together, so I walked around and hopped in too. Of course the men took us right to the metro stop (though we rode the whole way in uncomfortable silence) but I realized how foolish the whole thing was. We didn't talk about it but I hope she sensed my skepticism. Perhaps she's just used to doing this sort of thing in the Peace Corps and assumed it was safe, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Next stop: Anguk and the Insadong shopping district. We didn't buy much besides a few souveniers and gifts, but it was sure nice to be back on level ground! The place was insanely croweded, unlike the rest of Seoul, so we escaped into a hole-the-wall restaurant for some dinner. To our amazement, we didn't just find some food, we found one gem of a restaurant. With indoor atriums, cocoon lantern lights, giant wood carved tables, and iced papaya tea, we found ourselved refreshed and ready for more walking. By the time we left, it was dark out, and as we wound our way through the throngs, we happened upon one crazy circus-like band on bikes. Watch the video and you'll understand what I mean. I'll post it later.

We concluded our night out with a night at the movies. All I can say is that everyone should see The Bourne Ultimatum. What a thriller!

Once we made it back to the spa, we found ourselves ready to explore a little more. We tried each of the three hot tubs--one with scented eucalyptus oil, one with just hot water, and one with long chairs and jets--the cold water lap pool, sat in a salt rock sauna (you sit on little mats on top of gravel sized salk rocks) as well as the yellow soil sauna (which you also sit on mats in), patroned the massaging chairs, and even spent a couple minutes in the ice room (feels great after 20 minutes in a 80 degree Celcius sauna)! That night we doubled our floor pads for a little extra comfort and for once I slept the whole night. Horray!

In the morning we got up, went back to Insadong for some extra postcards, grabbed a bite to eat at an Italian cafe, and then made our way to the bus station. Getting tickets was easy, getting the right ticket was not. A couple years ago the government renamed my city from Jeomchun to Mung Yeoung, which created many problems. Even though our postal address is Mung Yeoung, there are basically four or five cities all grouped together under the name "Mung Yeoung," and no one who lives here refers to it that way. For all those concerned, the city is Jeomchun. But what city do you get a ticket for? Mung Yeoung or Jeomchun? Courtney got one for Jeomchun and I got mine for Mung Yeoung and neither of us realized it until Courtney's bus arrived and the driver wouldn't take my ticket. I had to run back to the ticket booth and have them change it. Luckily they did without any problem and we both settled in to our seats on the bus. I have a good feeling that had I boarded the bus for "Mung Yeoung" I would have ended up in the wrong Mung Yeoung about a half hour from Jeomchun.

But here I am, home, happy, and tired. My leg muscles still ache from our hike, my back is sore from packing a heavy backpack all over the country for five days, and my throat is a little sore from too much a/c on the bus. Tomorrow morning it's back to school. In hindsight, I'm so glad that I went to Seoul with Courtney--my Seoul-mate! Whahaha! (Sorry, I had to!) We had a great time, saw so much, met some really great people, and really took in some important aspects of Korea that Jeomchun just doesn't offer. Happy Chusok everyone!

Photo list from the top: Me and Courtney at Bong-Eunsa Temple; Construction outside of Seoul; The Sobak Mountain Hiking Crew; Hitching a ride to the trailhead; One of few flat spots on the trail; Some nuns I passed on the mountain; Like I said, pea soup fog; A couple kids at the folk village; Drinking tea at the tea house; Hanging menues at the folk village; The lake view from the tea house; Ginsing farm; COEX Mall; Me on the train to Seoul; Views from the train; Outside Seoul, taken from the train; Me at Yeouido Park right before our cruise; The view of Seoul from Yeouido Park; A woman praying at Bong-Eunsa Temple; Seoul at night; Bong-Eunsa Temple; More Korea at night; Even more Korea at night. Video to come later.