SEOUL, South Korea!!!

Saturday-Thursday, July 9-14, 2011

Yet again, my fascination with "Bamboo meets Pine"

Saturday, July 9, 2011:

I finally got to go to Seoul, South Korea! To say I had some troubles at the start would be an understatement. Luckily, I got to the airport in Taipei early. You see, I had been told that I needed to stay in Taiwan for so many days before I could leave so that I would get a tax cut from 20% to 6% (which I was definitely going to take advantage of). However, that ended up keeping me one day past my work visa's date. This cost me 2,000 NT (roughly 60 USD, which Frances promised to pay me back because it was at her insistence that for the tax break I needed to stay), and prevented me from coming back to Taiwan on a visitors Visa (which is free) . . . yeah. If I wanted to go to Korea I would have to get another type of Visa back to Taiwan which, the immigration people told me, would cost around 70 USD, "maybe more . . . (By the way, fail, but I'll get into that later.) But if I stayed in Taiwan till the day I was to fly home it would cost an extra 60 USD for staying there illegaly. So let's break down my options:

     ~To not go to Korea and stay in Taiwan for 9 days with nothing to do and where I would have wasted money on a plane ticket (no refund), a hotel (unknown refund), would have had to pay for hostel in Taiwan, and wouldn't have gotten to see my Korean friends:

          $120 (illegally staying fee) + $Hotel,PlaneTicket,Hostel

     ~To go to Korea where my plane ticket and hotel were already payed for, and I got to see my friends:

          $60 (illegally staying fee_ + $70 (new Visa fee)

So I chose Korea.

Plane Food!

Surprisingly yummy, I even ate the shrimp salad! 

It even came with . . . 

Korean Hot Pepper Paste

(. . . no, I was not brave enough . . .)

I got to Korea quite late and had to take a bus into Seoul. The other passengers were really nice and didn't let me get off at the wrong stop ;) When I did get off, I got a taxi and gave him the address I had printed off, literally a block later he stopped in front of my Hotel . . . the driver was so nice to not charge me, even though he had to put up with my lack of Korean. Whoever you are 감사합니다!! (thank you!)

Hotel Maré

This picture was taken a couple days later, but seeing as how I got there around 11:30 . . .

Apparently, the room I had reserved wasn't ready . . . so they put me in another room for the night. The hotel was very charming, and the first room I had was no exception.  

My 1st Room:

Outside:

The hall

The door 

Inside:

The TV and window

So looking at the window panels you would think nice window. . . 

or not . . . 

Desk

Bed

Bathroom

Right outside the hotel and on the way to the metro was this . . . store? . . . I don't know, but they had a lot of really cool stone work stuff!

Sunday, July 10, 2011:

I found an LDS church meeting house online and took a taxi to get there, during which time I was chastised in very broken English and a lot of gesturing that I should print out a map with directions for the driver . . . I just nodded and apologized, not wanting to get into the fact that I didn't have the knowledge of how to gain access to a printer.

Church was great! At first a couple of members started translating for me and then a missionary. The service was nice and the spirit was familiar. 

After church I met up with a friend I met at UVU, Hyunjin Lim. She showed my how to use the metro (got me a card and gave a basic overview of Seoul's subway). Then we went to at the Lotte Department Store (Asian "department stores" more resemble full U.S. malls than just one store) in the middle of Seoul where we also went to the Korean History Museum and then had lunch at, what I would call the restaurant-court (massive food-court upgrade). Hyunjin hadn't been feeling very well the last little while and in accordance with Korean culture for woman's summertime vitality we went to a restaurant that served chicken soup. When she first suggested it I thought sarcastically, "Yeah, Campbell's" Oh how wrong I was! 

I found the wrapping of the spoon and chopsticks very clever.

The soup had a whole mini-chicken, rice, and was flavored with ginseng!

The sides (if I can remember) are some sort of firm-tofu, kimchi, white radish kimchi, and mixed veggies.

(my first foray into kimchi was a split experience: regular: yum!; radish: not yum.)

I'm salivating just thinking about this soup!!!!

Hyunjin Lim, and 맛 있아요 음식 (yummy food)

Thank you Hyunjin, so much for showing me around and being such a good friend!!!

Katy, and Hyunjin

Monday, July 11, 2011:

Time to get a Taiwanese Visa, and it had to be done by the end of the day or it wouldn't be done in time for my flight back to Taiwan. So off to the Taiwanese Consulate, which happened to be on the middle floor of some office high rise building. Google maps had gotten me to the right intersection but where to go from there was where the directions got a little vague, ie it in the building right after you exit the metro. Well, in a city of high rises I felt a little unsure. Luckily, there was tourist info center (I'm not sure how to term it, it wasn't just a booth, but it wasn't quite a trailer) where I was able to find out a variety of things things throughout the day. First of which was that the ROC Consulate was literally right behind the info center, and on some forgettable floor.

The ROC Consulate, oh, so obviously is in this building!

(Ok, I'll stop with the sarcasm now)

So, as not to bore you further, here's a simple progression of events:

*Found Consulate. 

*Informed it would cost ~$150 (cash only). 

*Told I needed to be back before 4pm so it could be processed in time to have it back by Wed. 

*Also informed I needed pictures for the Visa. *Directed to the photo-booth in the metro station. 

*Found out Korean photo-booths come with the option for official government photos - Visa sized easily found. 

*Tried to pull money out of my Taiwanese bank account^: Fail. 

*Tried other means to get money (other cards etc.): Fail. 

*Went to some bank in the same high-rise where a VERY helpful man did everything he could think of to get my money: Success! (whereever that man is I hope he is still being blessed for his kindness!)

*Took passport, form, pictures, and money to ROC Consulate with just minutes to spare!

     ^I did have enough cash, but then I'd basically have no spending money for the rest of the trip . . . I like to eat ;)

Did I mention that it was raining all day?

On the plus side I got to have one of those fun omg'sh I saw that in a movie, experiences when I saw this statue. It was a bright spot in a dreary day.

Monday Night:
I met up with another UVU friend, Hyunchul Lee. He took me to a BBQ place near my hotel. The place was really cool, in the middle of the table is a little grill and above you is a long, re-position-able vent when they brought the food they also brought a bricket of sorts which they lit on fire and then Hyunchul grilled the meet, some veggies, and some garlic!

Hyunchul Lee and re-position-able vent

Grill, Lit-bricket, and Positioned vent

Lit-bricket up close 

I'm not sure I can name all of this food, but to the right are a plethora of dipping sauces and our drinks. To the left, starting at the bottom corner is kimchi, beansprouts, pre-grilled-onions, really-spicy-soup, lettuce, and pre-grilled-beef. On the grill is grilled beef and mushrooms! All of it was really, really yummy (if maybe a bit . . . quite spicy ;)

Korea's version of Sprite "Dynamic Kin"

After dinner we went to a cafe and Hyunchul helped me plan the rest of my time in Seoul. 

Thank you so much Hyunchul, I had a great time catching up, and thank you for the travel advice!!!

Hyunchul Lee, and Katy

Tuesday, July 12, 2011:

For Tuesday my goal was to go to the Seoul Korea LDS Temple. While it was cloudy all day it didn't rain at all. I had been up late the night before, so I got out late and by the time I got off the metro I was in need of food. But with no time to look around I went to the first place I recognized, KFC. Sadly this wasn't such a great option for my skirt. . . notice the sauce already dripped on the paper even with the clever cardboard wrap.

Finding the temple proved more difficult than I had initially figured. I had a map, but it didn't indicate accurately the widths of streets or just how many hills there were. To get to the temple from the metro stop I took, I had to go into a fairly narrow alley, which went up hill, and then I had to follow that street through it's winding pathways to then see, not the actual temple at first, but a beautifully landscaped area behind a wall. Then you saw the Angel, and then the sign:

"Seoul Korea Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"

Katy at the Seoul Temple

As always, the people at the Temple were very welcoming and helpful, and the session was beautiful.

After the temple my goal was to find a new skirt, but this proved very difficult due to prices and styles not being compatible (although at the end of the day I dropped into a store in the metro station and found the perfect skirt). So I just wandered around what I now know is, Hangang (Han River) near the business center of Seoul

G-Dragon Ad in the Seoul Metro
This picture is for my fellow V.I.Ps

The Seoul Tower was a place I had wanted to go, but didn't, being informed that it was more of a date spot, but you can see it from a lot of places in Seoul

The Seoul Tower

As I was walking down the street I noticed that the poles were wrapped with, what I thought was some sort of foam, so of course I had to feel it . . . I was wrong. It was actually a very hard plastic.

Now, I don't know about everyone else, but I think I'd rather hit just the pole . . .


This was just a great building I could't stop taking pictures of.

The 63 Building

Katy struggling with selcaing

Near the Hanwha building is what looked like an Olympic torch holder, or something to do with the Olympics. It has the Olympic Rings and the '88 Seoul Olympic logo. Also, at the top are depictions of some of the events. Starting from the right you have shooting, then rowing, then . . . fishing? If someone has a better explanation I'd love to hear it, because, from what I know, fishing isn't an Olympic event.

Olympic? Monument?

This picture I took because the mountains in the background are just so unique!

Usually there are little tours of the river, but sadly the river's level had risen so much that the government had suspended such activities.

In this picture, though you can't really see it, if I would have walked strait forward there was a platform which was completely under water. There were also places where the water reached the path I was on.

I feel this scene would be very interesting to look at at night.

Dinner! I went to a very charming place on the Hangang with a great view. And had the best sign ever:

Though when I ordered what was termed the 'meal' I didn't expect to 'only' get a whole chicken, with a side of tofu . . . Of course, it was delicious!

Yummy Chicken

I'm pretty sure this was one of those "chicken and bear" places, but there wasn't many (any) food options in that area for a wondering tourist. 

Hotel (2nd room):
I'm finally finishing this blog post on Oct. 4, 2014, so please excuse my lack of memory and sudden change in my accounting of things.

There wasn't any kind of closet or cloths-hanging-bar . . . (whatever that is called), but there were hooks on the wall so I tried to take advantage of the decorating opportunity ;)

I also took full advantage of the TV to computer hook up option. 

 I streamed my favorite K-pop mv while "decorating"

(I got the fan at the history museum)

While checking my email, I watched a vid. David had sent of his kids all dancing.

3 Dalley girls and the Dalley boy dancing on my room's flat screen/comp. monitor.

Just trying to prove my existence (the struggles of traveling solo ;)

Also, I just couldn't get over that I could hook up my computer to that thing in a hotel room.

Further evidence of my fascination ;)

Another deceptive window. It was only about half the size of the left half of the "shutter."

My upgraded room was bigger, but it also had an extra bed, or in my case luggage shelf and outfit organizer.

I can't believe I traveled for so long with only the luggage you can see above. The backpack was mainly my laptop bag, and I also had a purse, but really, where did I put my shoes? ;)

The bathroom was definitely an upgrade

Wednesday, July 13, 2014:

My main goal for the day was to explore "touristy Seoul" and buy souvenirs; both goals were met quite successfully!

If you look at the bottom of the stairs you can start to see the visual effect, but the animal part was done very well

Random metro stairs in Seoul

My first stop was the same tourist "booth" that helped me on Monday. They directed me to a few touristy places that had good souvenir shops. On my way to one of the streets they mentioned (and quite literally kitty-corner from the "booth") was this spiral sculpture at Cheonggye Plaza.

As an historian I could really go off on the historical significance of the pictures below, but I'll restrain myself.

This street is above what used to be a river (I'm still unsure if the river was redirected elsewhere or still under the street). It is now a large median-park with a sculpture representing a shell (among other things). This project earned the "Cities on Water" award in Venice, Italy 2004.

I just learned there's moving water inside it, but I didn't see it (yet another reason for me to go back there).

But the main reason I ventured over to the median-park was because there seemed to be some sort of international . . . thing happening. The plethora of flags, clued me in. It turned out to be a photo exhibit remembering the help South Korea received 60 years prior. The flags from all the nations that helped were displayed along with pictures, maps, and fairly detailed information about the war. I spent a good hour reading the captions and studying the pictures and maps.

The picture above is of a girl getting her picture taken while holding the American Flag, so I asked her if she could take one of me in the same pose, which is the one below.

Katy (ie, SuperGirl) and the American Flag 

Across the street from the exhibition was this scene:

Traditional architecture meets modern skyscraper

Further down the street was a statue I just thought was cool, but still don't know what it was for.

"Male falling off horse" statue

I also saw this guy again, and found out it's a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin. He was the admiral who warded off the Japanese in the 16th century; of the 23 battles, he lost none. Further down is the statue of King Sejong. More on him later.

Admiral Yi, King Sejong, yet another example of the awesome mountains in Seoul, and half of Gwanghwamun 

After souvenir shopping I went on the hunt (ironic use) for food. I wasn't in the mood for adventurous meats, so when I finally came across a sign that said vegetarian restaurant downstairs I took the chance.  To get to the restaurant you had to go down some stairs and around a slight corner, this made me slightly wary, but hunger prevailed (now I'm just being dramatic),

After I was seated and given a menu (I don't remember if it had English or not) I still had no idea what to order. I had no experience with the culture of a Korean restaurant, and I don't think the waitress (owner?) spoke English. Luckily there were two older Japanese women at the next table who spoke very broken English, but this meant that I got to practice my semi-conversational Japanese. Regardless of the language barriers they helped me a lot! They told me, and the "ajumma" (this term means aunt, but it's used for any older woman in Korea, especially those in the food industry; at the time though, I didn't really understand why they kept calling her that, I knew it wasn't Japanese and it definitely wasn't English), that I wanted what they were having. I looked at what they were having and figured I'd get half of what was on their table, but how wrong I was. I got everything they had on their table (minus one bowl of rice and one bowl of soup). As the ajumma kept adding dishes to my table I kept trying to find something recognizable. I recognized that there were two types of kimchi, and four of the other dishes, as something that I had already had while living in Asia. There were also a few others that looked familiar, but which I hadn't dared try before. Regardless of my lack of knowledge about what I was consuming (even now that I've had more experience with Korean food, I can only tell you what 7 out of the 15 side-dishes are) I went for it . . .

. . . And it was delicious!!!!!!!!  Everything was great!!!!! I especially liked the one with, what I assume are, peanuts!!! When I make it back to Seoul, this restaurant is at the top of my list of places to find!
When the ajumma brought the drink, I wasn't sure what it was so I tried to ask the two Japanese ladies if it was "ocha" (tea) or possibly even "sake" (alcohol). They said, "yes, it is" (though I'm not sure which one they referred to), and then asked me if I was Christian. . . A few minutes later they told me that it was "jusu" (juice), so I decided to trust them and just drank it ;) Randomly they said something like, "Anata wa hashi tsukau . . . ?" (you can use chopsticks?) also saying I could use them well.
Though the day was filled with many great things, this was definitely my favorite experience of the day!

On my way back to the metro I stopped in front of, what I now know as, Gyeongbokgung's main gate, Gwangwamun. I didn't really see a way in (didn't really look, and I didn't really know what it was at the time) so I moved on.

Gwangwamun - The south gate to palace

Perpendicular to the gate is yet another median-park of sorts. At the time all I saw were the statues and sculptures. I also read an inscription informing me that the statue was of King Sejong the Great (fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, reigning from 1418-1450 CE). He was responsible for some major civil and scientific advancements, probably the biggest of which was creating the phonetic character system that Korea still uses. Later, I would find out that there's actually a museum entrance at the base of the statue. (thank you for the info QiRanger) Yet another reason to go back to Seoul!

King Sejong and example sculptures of his studies

The above plaque reads:

Here lies Gwanghwamun Square on Sejong-ro where the ancient history of Korea still rings today.
Yukjo Street - embodying the glory of kings and citizens together in the Joseon Dynasty - is being transformed into a symbolic square that signals new directions for a humane and cultural society with openness and mutual respect.
The statue of King Sejong the Great, who devised the Korean characters Hangeul and presided over our cultural splendor, finally sits here along with that of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin.
The City of Seoul hopes that this square will give unforgettable experiences to visitors who come to see and feel the magnificent and dynamic history of Seoul and dream of happiness and common prosperity in the future.

October 9, 2009"

At some point in the day (possibly at the beginning) I picked up my passport, which now had my overpriced "visitor's" Visa in it. Side note - not having access to my passport restricted me from going to the 38th parallel DMZ, thus tipping the scale of whether or not I should try to find my way back to South Korea!

Back at the hotel I compiled all my souvenirs for a photo before I started packing up.
(note: neither of the shirts were from anywhere in Asia, I was just trying to keep them wrinkle-free)
I did this while trying to watch the latest episode of a Korean show I had been following, City Hunter, but for some odd reason SBS (a main tv network in Korea) didn't air it with English subs ;) and I finally got lost enough, and didn't want to see any out-of context-spoilers, that I had to give up and wait for the fan subbed episode to come out online.

Thursday, July 14, 2011:

Flying back to Taiwan I really didn't want to leave Korea, but I was also excited that I would soon be heading back home (USA). Still, I wish I had spent more time really exploring Korea. Some day I'll be back, "hwighting!" ;)

Yet again, welcoming me back to Taiwan, was my favorite Taiwanese boy-group: Fahrenheit :)