Springtime in Seoul

I'm all choked up, literally. China fills my pores. Dust and grime cloud my lungs and coat my now gritty skin. Amidst the dust from Olympic construction and unpaved roads and storms from the far-off desert, it's hard to escape. I'm starting to understand why I've seen so much spitting since I arrived. Not just a casual spit off to the side of the road, but a full-force, lung-clearing, no holds barred spit. I'm waiting to be caught in the crossfire! And with that introduction, I am indeed in the middle of my two and a bit week's stay in fascinating China. 

But enough of China for now, and back to my first mini-break destination before I fully left Japan, Seoul, South Korea. A cross between Western buildings and Eastern traditions. Sort of a mix between Japan and China. It was a short and spicy trip.

The food was delicious and dangerous. Every single meal was accompanied by some sort of vegetable kimchi and by the end of my trip my tongue was full of sores from a combination of the heat and the spices.

Recipe for a mouth sore s09

Stop Buggin' me!

The first day in Korea I took in a temple, much more colourful than Japanese temples but nothing compared to what I would soon see in China.

Climb Every Mountain

Day 2 I headed out of the downtown core to climb a mountain nearby as many of the tourist attractions were closed on Mondays. I arrived at the Bukhansen National Park assuming that the mountain I was to climb was a short jaunt away. I had to ask just to be sure. Now in Japan when you ask someone how far it is to get somewhere, they often gasp and say that there is no possible way that you will ever get to the destination in question in this lifetime and that you should just give up while you're ahead.

My experience here has been the opposite. I asked how long it would take to get to the top of the mountain and everyone seemed to think that it was just around the bend. That it would be a mere moment before I hit the peak and was looking over the vast National Park. Three hours and two wobbly legs later and I made it. Smart move to engage in major mountain climbing on my first real day of travel. I was sore for days afterwards and I nearly sprained my ankle about five times as I slide down icy slopes and steep cliffs.I realized during this climb that I am not a rock climber. I was shaking like a leaf when I reached the top as an 80-year-old Korean woman sprinted past me and waved hello. 

Look at the pain on this face!

Theatre Stomping

After the mountain, I checked out a local temple that was getting gussied up for the upcoming lotus festival (to celebrate Buddha's birthday) and then headed back to town to check out a popular theatre show called Nanta which was sort of like Stomp but set in a kitchen and using kitchen instruments to create percussion. It had been on Broadway but was originally from Korea and I thought it would be cool to check it out. I was one of few westerners in the audience, the rest made up of Japanese tourists arriving in busloads, so I felt sort of oddly at home after my magical year living there.

Forever Public Bathing and Eating

Straight from the theatre, I headed to a 24-hour bath. Not even 24 hours out of Japan and I was craving the scalding water.

From there, the Nandaemum night market Where I had a few good eats. It was a bustle of activity at such a late hour. I had a little Chinese medicine wine to lull me to sleep, which was supposedly "good for treating weak stomachs, backaches, and cut!" Yeah! Finally a documented excuse for drinking a little wine before bed!

The next day I took the city bus around and checked out a few more markets. Decided to go slightly off the beaten path to the natural medicine market where I was prescribed some turd-like pills apparently made my Samsung (Makes sense. Televisions and Chinese medicine.) and then given the "service" of a handful of other little turds which I was to wash down with bark juice. Little old busters were lined up for miles for a swig of this gritty substance, so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a go. The guy said that it would clear my stomach and my face so that was good.

I walked through the rest of a series of markets and bought a greasy street potato pancake,  then went to a nearby park which I am now calling leisure-suit park. It was filled with men in leisure suits playing games and singing Karaoke. One of the leisure men came up to me and asked me for a piece of my pancake. I liked that he was bold enough to ask me but feared that if I gave him some that the rest of the men would fly in like a flock of pigeons and would all want a little piece. Sure enough, I was swarmed. People chanted "where are you from" and looked at my pancake through salivating eyes. I ended up giving it all away.

And as quickly as I arrived my short sojourn had ended and I headed back to Japan for a night before the long leg of my trip, the voyage to China.

I'll tell ya all about it next time!