Episode 19: In Which DFM Hikes Up The Wrong Mountain

The plan today was to cram as many supplies as possible into my back pack and head off for a day of hiking and climbing.  I decided to scrap my initial plan to hike every mountain in Seoul,  since many of the "mountains" are little more than hills and I didn't want to waste my time traveling across the city to run up a hill.  Instead, I have focused my plan on training for my summer mountain running season with some steep hiking up only the highest mountains.  The highest of them all is Baegundae peak at 836 meters high and so that's where I decided to go today.

I probably should have read at which stop to get off for the Baegundae hike, but I decided to wing it.  When I got off at my subway station nobody even knew where Baegundae peak was (never mind that it is in the Bukhansan National Park and you can see it from the street when you come out).  I finally found someone who recognized it but said there was no way to get to the park from where I was because it was too far.  They don't know DFM.

After about a half hour of walking and navigating by "feel" I came to the park.  A friendly park ranger sent me in the right direction and I was on my way.  I asked a number of people along the way if I was still on the right path, but I kept getting the same response:  "mulda."  I checked it out and that spelling means "bite."  I must have spelled it wrong because I'm pretty sure they were trying to say it was a long way.

I came across many friendly hikers, but these two were special.  This is Mr. and Mrs. Cha and they spoke quite a bit of English.  They have two daughters who are now grown up and married, and have both traveled around the world going to various Universities.  One of them had been to Montreal, Seattle, and is now living in San Francisco (I think I got the order right), and the other is living and studying in London.  Every few years they all get together at one of the cities and have a reunion.  Mrs. Cha also said that she had been to Vancouver, Toronto and was in Calgary during the '88 Winter Olympics, which would mean that she went to both Olympics that year since the Summer Olympics were in Seoul.  When I took their picture, Mr. Cha kept saying "thank you" to me.  Either taking a picture of a Korean is a sign of respect, or Koreans just haven't figured out how favours work and exactly whom is doing whom a favour when they let me take their picture.  I had a great time talking to Mr. and Mrs. Cha, but I had to get going so I said good-bye and raced on up the mountain (Mr. Cha called me "young and strong").

Eventually I came to a large wall with a gate in it.  Apparently this whole area was part of an 18th century fortress built in 1711, and part of the wall is still in tact.

 

The gates are attached to walls, and the walls connect many of the peaks.  Not only did they provide a good history lesson, but they also helped me find my way back afterwards.

I'm pretty sure that tall peak is Baegundae.  I am now on the other side of the mountain though, which means that not only can I see the other side of the mountain, but also that somewhere along the way I made a very wrong turn.  I decided here to turn back around and head back because it was getting late and I still wanted to go climbing.

On the way back, even though I had a wall to follow, I still managed to make a wrong turn and had no idea where I was going.  The footing got really treacherous and on more than one occasion I thought I was going for a bad tumble down a steep slope.

Eventually I staggered back down to the bottom absolutely exhausted.  Luckily there was a bus back to my subway station waiting for me.

After eating some tuna and rice I was ready to go again and so I set off to find the Climbing Academy climbing gym.

Climbing Academy is owned by Chung Seung Kwan.  I was told that Mr. Chung is a North Face sponsored Alpinist.  I did some research and it turns out that just last year he led a climb up K2 -the world's most dangerous mountain - and in 1988 was the leader of an expedition that summited Everest.  In 1998 he won a silver medal in the X-Games for Ice climbing in both the difficulty and speed divisions.  He is also a very nice guy and shook my hand and let me climb for free this day.

In the picture above you can see that everyone is stretching.  I swear that Korean rock climbers spend more time stretching and doing crunches than actually climbing.  Every gym I've been to always has at least one person who stretches and/or works on his/her abs the entire time I am there.

At the top-right of the picture you can see a white guy in a white T-shirt.  His name is Billy and he is a former Marine from Illinois.  Billy is a genius.  He speaks four languages and finished a degree in Linguistics in one year while holding down two full-time jobs (yes, one year).  He's only been in Korea for five months but he seems to have almost mastered the language.  I was in awe.  Billy told me that after going through so much needless suffering as a Marine in training finishing school in a year was nothing.  Billy also showed me how to get to O2 World climbing gym, which is the largest gym in Seoul and probably next on my list of gyms at which to climb.

Well, that's the short version of a long day, but I need to get ready to meet Perry for what he calls "a funny speech."

Episode 18: In Which DFM's Milk Turns Into Sour Cream

Today wasn't much of a day.  After a jam packed day of exploring and a night out I opted for some rest.  I did have quite a weird experience with my milk though.  

I'm not sure if it was the heat or not (my room is generally quite cool as there are no windows) but when I had my breakfast cereal it tasted rather odd.  I thought maybe it was just the old milk left over from the other day (I was too lazy to wash my bowl out), so I had another bowl later in the afternoon.  There were solid chunks in my milk!  Plus, it tasted kind of like drinking sour cream.  I didn't want to waste good cereal though so I ate the rest of the bowl.  But then I threw out the remaining milk since I was pretty sure it wasn't quite fresh anymore.

When I went to get some new milk and cereal from the "Spend More-On-Foods" across the street I met the cutest little boy.  He couldn't have been any more than two at the most, but was probably younger.  I was standing in the cereal aisle comparing the cost-benefit ratios of various products when this little guy came toddling along with his dad.  He stopped dead in his tracks like he had seen a ghost.  (I know I'm pretty pale, but come on!)  I backed out of the way to let him pass, but his dad said "annyeong him."  The little boy puts his hands by his side and bent over into a big bow.  I replied "annyeong hasseo," which means hello, and bowed back.  The boy toddled along on his way and the dad and I exchanged a nod.  I was kicking myself for forgetting the number one tourist rule:  Never forget your camera!

Episode 17: In Which DFM Spends A Day Exploring Down Town Seoul

Today was my big trip to Dongdaemun (Great East Gate) with Conor, the English teacher I met at COEX mall my first week here.  It was also the first really warm day of spring and I wore a T-shirt and shorts (making me the only man in Korea wearing shorts).

I took the subway to our meeting point and Conor took the bus.  However, apparently there was a massive protest rally/march being held downtown and all of the buses were caught in traffic.  I later saw police in riot gear walking around.

While I was waiting for Conor I saw a man pushing this giant cart of fruit down the sidewalk.  He got to a busy section of the sidewalk and rather than waiting he just yelled at everyone a lot and pushed his cart through.  I later learned from Conor that the street vendors buy their spots on the street from the Jopok, which is why I always see the same vendors in the same spots.

Well, there it is, the Great East Gate.  There used to be four of these large gates and a wall surrounding what used to be the entire city, but now there are only two and they're in the middle of downtown Seoul.  An arsonist burnt down the Namdaemun gate last year during another protest which caused a day of mourning.

I mentioned to Conor that I was looking for a traditional Korean tea set and so he took me to Insadong where there were many tea shops.  Insadong was also on my list of things to see in the city and I got to check out the very expensive, very high-end Beautiful Tea Museum so it was a win-win for me.  

The Beatiful Tea Museum is not so much a museum as a store where artists will put on display/sale their unique tea set creations and you can find specialty teas for $250 or more.  I decided to move on and see a smaller store called Wellbing Tea (not a typo, perhaps Kongrish) that had owners who apparently remember each and every one of their customers.

On the way over we found more than one driver trying to turn down a closed street.  This guy ran into a barrier, and then tried to back up (you can see the reverse lights) right into a crowd of people.

Eventually we got to the Wellbing tea shop where I bought a lovely traditional tea set and some uniquely Korean herbal tea.  The woman on the left is the owner and I'm pretty sure the man in blue is her son.  The woman at the back, sitting down is the man's wife (I think).  When we came in, the man in blue, Yoon Chul-Won, immediately recognized Conor from when he bought his own tea set five months earlier.  He asked if he was still teaching English and if he was still teaching Middle School children?  It was incredible the memory he had.  I might come back again some day just to test out if he remembers me too.

Insadong is also famous for this, the only non-English Starbucks sign in the world.  Not even China gets to have a Chinese Starbucks sign, so it's quite a big deal here.

Many of the side streets are closed for tourists on Saturday as I mentioned before, but many drivers don't want to wait.  Here we have a barrier that has been run over by an impatient Seoulite.

Here's America's contribution to the Insadong area.  Classy.

These elderly drummers are quite famous and will perform in many of Seoul's parades.  Here they are just practicing, but they were still practicing when Conor and I came back two and a half hours later.  I was told it was their exercise and that all the bouncing up and down and whacking of drums could burn up to 1000 Calories an hour (although I'm not sure if that's true).  Many tourists will get pulled into the mix and you can find awkward and embarrassed foreigners (and locals) trying unsuccessfully to keep up these these exceptionally fit elders.

More Kongrish for you:  A DVD Kinema.  Is that like a DVD Cinema?  In Korea you can rent a private room for $7.00 and watch DVDs.  These are quite popular and you can see two more DVD rooms advertised further down the street on the right hand side of the picture.

Conor's girlfriend is taking a Master's degree at a local University and after she got off work Conor invited me to come for dinner with them.  We had Sam Gye Tang.  Each person gets a pot of soup with onions in it.  Inside the soup is a whole chicken that has been stuffed with rice.  You tear open the chicken and eat it with your chopsticks while using your spoon to finish off the rice-soup afterwards.  As with every Korean meal I've had so far this one was delicious.  

Astute readers may wonder why the term "dak" did not appear in the title of the meal.  That is because it is a very ancient meal developed before the invention of the Hangul (Korean alphabet) when the Chinese language was still widely used.  Gye is the name of the Chinese character for chicken.

Afterwards Myung Jin (Conor's girlfriend) suggested we go for a ferry ride on the Han River.  I jumped at the chance since it was yet another item on my To Do list that I would be able to check off.  The night started to turn cold and rainy, which made me regret wearing shorts and a T-shirt.  But the cruise was lovely and Myung Jin pointed out all of the interesting sights along the river.  Conor and I had an interesting discussion on Korean history including Korean-Japanese relations which is apparently still a very sore topic in Korea.

By now it was about 9:30 PM and I had been out for about 11 hours so I decided to go home and get some well-earned rest.  It is the end of my second full week here and I can't wait to see what next week holds in store for me.

Episode 16: In Which DFM Gets Taken Away In The Back Of A White Panel Van

Today was supposed to be the day that Lee Young San (the guy I met at the bath house/sauna the other night) and I were going to meet with some of his coworkers from his office so that I could help them with their English.  Lee phoned me to confirm that I could make it and I made my final preparations.  Then, with only a few minutes before I was ready to set out Lee phoned me again to tell me he was swamped with work (at 7:30 on a Friday night?) and that he would not be able to make it, but I was to go meet his coworkers anyways who would come meet me.  He said that he had "sms"d me her name and phone number (what a text message is called everywhere else in the world), but he did not know that I had not yet figured out how to check my sms messages on my Korean phone yet.

I set out for the prearranged meeting place to meet my blind date.  In a country where "everyone looks the same" and I didn't even know what my date looked like, I was basically waiting for her to find me.

Along the way there was a massive argument as some young Korean man was having some sort of problem with the white owner of the pub attached to my gosiwon.  It was quite a yelling match and all the middle-aged white, pot-bellied bar owners from the street (quite a funny sight in Korea) had gathered to show consolidarity.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting I started to get worried that one of the many women waiting behind me was my date.  I met a Korean woman who was also waiting for her date and we had a pleasant chat.  Her name was Amy and she spoke in impeccable English.  Apparently she had lived for six years in America when she was younger and now possessed a fluent version of both languages.  I told her my predicament and wondered if I was just missing something, or if I was just trapped in Korean Time.  She asked how long I had been waiting, and when I said my date was fifteen minutes late Amy said that there was still lots of time left in Korean Time for her to arrive.  Eventually my date found me after a half-hour of waiting.  I was not bored in the mean time though, for even after Amy left I still had a young Korean man I met the other day try to set find Korean women to talk to me (unsuccessfully), and a 65-year-old prostitute tried to get me to take her home.

My date's name was Song Hyeon A (the first time I've seen a Korean name only one letter long).  She spoke very little English and was understandably quite nervous at first.  She tried to express in broken English that she would like to eat, but did not know anywhere to eat in Itaewon.  Being the true gentleman and ladies man that I am I of course took her to KFC, where I was more than happy to let her pay for both of our meals.  (Note:  Lee Young San later told me that he made her pay for the meals because "his friend was doing her a great favour by helping her with her English...")

After dinner and a surprisingly good conversation we set up another date when we would both prepare some material (me in English and her in Korean) to teach the other participant.  I suggested a BBQ place across the street that had been recommended to me, but later regretted it as I figured I might have to actually pay for my meal and maybe hers this time.  

Special note on the KFCs in Korea:  My classic chicken combo came with only two small pieces of chicken, small fries (the kiddie sized ones in the bag) and a small soda.  I tried to tell Hyeun A that in Canada we get about two to three times that amount in our combos, but she could not grasp how a person could eat that much and not get fat....

We went back to the street to wait for Lee (Young San likes to be called Lee).  Lee came up dressed to party with his English teacher Canadian friend, Thom, from Vancouver.  I started to think the whole "busy at work" line was just a ploy.  Hyeun A had to go home so Thom and Lee decided to take me along to the B1 club very near to my gosiwon.  I decided to come along for a bit thinking I'd stay for an hour and then go home (I didn't want to seem rude).  Little did I know what I was in for.

Lee is of course a very friendly guy and so is Thom.  Thom had the same bottom of the line phone that I did and he told me stories about how his eleven year old students laughed at him the first time he took it out in class and then showed him their state of the art touch-screen phones.  (I have since been informed that it is next to impossible for foreigners to get a good phone with an actual contract in Korea.)  Thom was able to teach me how to send and check my text messages and also how to save numbers in my memory.  He said that it was the veteran ex-pat's job to teach the newbie how things worked in Korea.

The B1 club was a really nice club.  Like many thing in Korea it was rather small, but a lot of money had been put into the decor.  There was even an area that was like a couch and a bed combined, with cushions.  I observed that to get these seats, you could reserve the table with the cushions, or just be a woman trying desparately to attract the attention of a man.

Actually, all the tables at the club seemed to be reserved, and we didn't have a reservation, but Lee knew one of the bartenders/waiters and so we got to rotate around the tables and sit there until their rightful owners came along.

Eventually Heedo (in the black) and David came along and we took Heedo's turbo-charged Hyundai panel van to Sinchon (wherever that is).  Thom, Dave and I had to ride in the back of the van.  There were no seats in the back since it was basically a transport van.  The ride was bumpy and we slid around a lot.  It felt like we were Albanians being smuggled out of the country to freedom.  (You can see from the picture that David had this wallet that shot out a giant flame, and he was quite eager and happy to show it off any time you asked... or if there was a girl around.)

Sinchon is a big University district and the clubs there are much more American style.  The rooms are still small, but the music is loud and everyone packs in to the center of the room and "dances" (or whatever the young people do these days).  The first club we went to was called "Mike's... Something, Oh I Forgot (not the name of the club)."  They played a lot of popular Western dance music and at least 35% of the club goers here were white.  A good chunk of them were probably English teachers, but there were two or three middle-aged white guys standing at the back who seemed really out of place.

Dave and Heedo were having a great time on the dance floor (Dave has his hands by his face, "raving" I assume, and you can see Heedo trying to get his face in the picture down in the bottom left-hand corner).  Lee and I do not dance so we stood on the side and/or played Foosball.  Thom had gotten sick from the van ride over and decided to take a taxi back to Itaewon.

 

Lee and I met Ed, an English teacher from Norway, who wrote the message regarding the Swedish.  Ed explained that the Norwegians and Swedish were always taking friendly pot shots at each other, because "they were basically the same... except that Norway had oil."  Ed was very generous and was always trying to give me things.  Unfortunately those things rarely belonged to Ed, like the beer he tried to give me that belonged to Heedo.

Heedo liked the Mike's place so much that he decided to stay, and Dave, Lee and I decided to move on.  The taxi cab drivers are shifty characters in Seoul and so they only pick up fairs who will be traveling a long distance late at night (more money for the drivers that way), so we had to walk.  We even saw two cabbies get in a fight because one had parked in the other's spot.

Lee bought Dave and I some real kimbap (apparently what I've been eating is just kim) and some tteokbokki (pronounced something like "dock bo-key") and then it was on to the next club.  Up until this point I actually thought we were walking to find a cab home, but apparently we were just on our way to another University district for more clubs.

We came to a place called The Club, and there was a Led Zeppelin cover band on the stage.  I'd love to make fun of them here, but they were actually really good.  There were a lot of white people here though.  I'd estimate roughly 65% of the crowd was white, or more.  Lee confessed to me that this was not his scene, and we sat on the side and watched Dave try to pick up white girls (apparently Dave only goes for white girls, which means he should probably move to a different country).

Eventually 4 AM rolled around and Lee and I left to find a cab (the cab fares drop back down to normal price at 4 AM).  Dave had moved on to some other club, but I was amazed that when Lee and I left at 4 the streets were still packed with people, and the clubs were still as full as at 12.  I was even more amazed to see people walking around trying to sell kebabs or operating street food vending stands.  I don't think the clubs close down until 5 AM, and you can bet that they will still have to kick people out even then.

Outside we saw a couple of really drunk people stumbling around in the streets.  I'm not sure if this is for show or what the deal is, but drunk people in Korea all act the same way.  One person will assume the role of absolutely hammered person, while his friend plays the only partially drunk person.  The partially drunk friend will hold the arm of the hammered friend while the two stumble down the street in a large weaving pattern.  Every few steps the hammered friend will pull a great escape move and attempt to stumble back into the street in between the taxi cabs.  The semi-drunk friend will then lead him slowly and in a three steps forward, two steps back fashion until they get back to the sidewalk where the whole routine happens again.  I've seen the exact same performance with men in business suits as well, so I think it's just the accepted way of being drunk.  Regardless, it's quite humerous to watch.  The taxi cabs for their part seem to expect it and always go slow by the clubs.

Eventually I got back to Itaewon at around 4:30 AM, and went to sleep.  Before I knew I would be staying out all night I had agreed to meet Conor in Dongdaemun the next morning, so that meant I will only be getting about 5 hours of sleep this night.  Sounds like fun.

Gloating:  Despite the "promises" of those around me I was able to make it all night while only drinking one beer.  I only drank that one because it was a Korean beer that Thom had bought for me before I could say no (I'm not a drinker).  Korean beer, or maekju, is rather light and is carbonated.  It actually tastes like someone added club soda to a Coors Light.

Episode 15: In Which DFM Enters A Korean Climbing Contest And Has Some More Korean Food

Today was the big Ace climbing competition day (well, not big, just for fun, but big for me).  I had already been to Ace before so I thought I could find my way  back easily.  Somehow I got lost in the multi-floored subway station and could not find the right exit.  I took a guess and wound up in a neighbourhood I did not recognize.  I started walking in a random direction and pretty soon I found the street where I should have been on.  A nice break indeed, since to double back and go inside would have cost me another dollar.

I purposely made a wrong turn and stopped back at the school I had visited the first time I tried to go to Ace.  My two little friends were there and they recognized me right away.  They showed me a Korean game that is essentially Chinese Checkers but played with humans.  One player starts on one yellow dot, and the other player on a yellow dot on the other side.  The players take turns jumping along the lines to the next intersection.  The winner is the player who gets to the other side.  If you can knock the other player over, you win!  This is a game we definitely need in Canada, but since our country is soft and lacks discipline, it won't happen.

After playing Korean Bodycheckers, the boys told me they were hungry.  I said that I was hungry too, and since we both agreed that jjinpang was delicious, we set out  with some other children in search of some jjinpang (remember, I've been searching for jjinpang for over a week now unsuccessfully).  The boys and I did not have any greater success finding jjinpang either, so we eventually settled on some ice cream.  Now, I had bought the same cone back in Itaewon for $1.50, but this cone only cost $1.20, and the boys got it for $1.00.  When in Korea always shop with a Korean.

I got to the competition early so that I could warm up and there was a table of various Korean treats waiting for me.  Most of the treats were slightly sweetened Quaker Rice Cakes in various shapes, but there was also some home made bread (delicious) and Ji-Hyeun had saved me a dumpling (mandu).  There were a number of Koreans enjoying the snacks and watching a Star Craft tournament that was being televised.  Perry said that a little bit of food would give me energy, but cautioned me against stuffing myself (like I was doing) because it would make me tired.  In Korea you always listen to your elders, so I took his advice and went to get changed.

The competition was a slightly different format than what I am used to.  Everyone who registered was placed in a category based on various characteristics like age, sex, experience, skill, etc.  Then five teams were made, each with a diverse composition.  Our group had one expert climber (the guy in the red), two intermediate climbers (Perry, in the grey, and myself), and two women (the woman in blue is looking at our other climber who just ran off to try a problem).  Other teams had a different blend.

There were five stations with four problems each.  One problem for Expert men, one problem for Intermediate men, one problem for Recreational men, and one problem for Women and Senior men (they did the same problem).  That's 20 problems, and apparently Choi (the owner) had made 19 of them himself.  Ji-Hyeun told me she had made the other.  Each group gets a score card and has roughly fifteen minutes to gain as many points as possible.  Each hold in the problem has a point total attached to it, and climbers are awarded that score if they reach that hold.

There were some incredibly ripped, incredibly strong climbers at this competiton.  Check out the back on this fellow.  I assure you he had the front to match.  Additionally, the rock he is holding on to is made from real stone and was hand chiseled by Choi himself and then screwed on to the wall.  There were dozens of these Choi holds in the gym, and I spent a good amount of time staring in awe at each of them.

This woman was very strong and was placed in the same category as me.  She did not embarrass herself either.  I had wanted to see Ji-Hyeun climb too, but she had to work.

When all was said and done not only did our team finish first overall, but I placed first in the Intermediate Men's category.  I told Ji-Hyeun that next time I would need to go in the Expert category since I found the Intermediate problems a little too easy (I was placed there by Ji-Hyeun, it was not my idea).  It's a big jump to Expert though, as the Intermediate routes were all around 5.11, while the Expert routes start at 5.12 (my limit) and go up to 5.13 or higher.

After climbing, the entire group of us went out to have dinner.  This is the same place that Choi had taken me last Friday, and I hope he made a reservation because we easily took up half the restaurant.  I was most honored when I arrived, because everyone was there already and Choi had saved me a seat right by himself.  When I came in the door he frantically waved me over to his side.  In this picture we have Thomas and Jasper up front.  Alvin, an English teacher from South Africa, is in the blue shirt.  I do not know the three Koreans to the right of Jasper though, but that is of course Choi with the big grin and the soju at the back.

I had a wonderful time dining with my new Korean friends.  Today was a big day for me in other ways too, in that for the first time I was able to communicate to non-English speaking Koreans in broken Korean.

Choi is a great man, but he's also quite the character.  He introduced me to a Korean woman who spoke very good English, and although he was talking in Korean I could tell from his sheepish grin that he was up to no good.  She later told me that he was trying to play match-maker and set us up.

I've said it already, but I'll say it again.  Big day.  Tomorrow I go out with Lee Young San from the bath house.  I should have more good stories from that, so remember to keep checking in.

Episode 14: In Which DFM Visits A Korean Bath House And Another Museum

I set my alarm for 9:30 AM last night because I wanted to get an early start on what was sure to be a big day.  I needn't have worried though, at 8:30 I was woken up by a message just too urgent to wait.  Apparently someone was opening an English school and wanted teachers.  Never mind that Nelson already told the woman that I wasn't staying around  long enough or intending to work, I just had to be woken to be given the message.  Oh well, I was already up more or less anyways since my next door neighbour was having an extra loud phone conversation and playing Nintendo at 8:00 AM as usual (she went to bed after 1:30 AM too, so I don't know how she does it, I'm actually impressed).

First up on the list of things to do was visit one of the saunas for which Korea is famous.  Saunas in Korea are actually public bath houses where everyone walks around naked and sits in various tubs of various temperatures for various lengths of time (there are separate areas for men and women).  Some of the high end saunas will have green tea, coffee, pine needles or other exotic additions in their tubs, but my bath house just had water.  (There was a sign that said it was sulfur water pumped up from a mile under ground or so, but who knows?)

It's not just a room of hot tubs, it's the experience.  There is a locker room aide who hands you all the towels you could ever need, in every possible shape, size and texture, there are little seats where you can shave at your own mirror, and a TV in the locker room with its very nice hard wood floor among many other niceties.

As for the hot tubs, there were four of them.  A Cold Tub with water at 23 degrees centigrade, a Warm Tub with water at 40 degrees, an Event Tub, which is another 40 degree tub but this time it has jets, and a Hot Tub with 45 degree water.  You wouldn't think it, but that extra 5 degrees makes a big difference.  The Cold Tub also had a "water fall" jet which seemed like a neat concept until I tried it out.  Three high pressure nozzles blast you with water from the ceiling and it really hurts.  I can see why no one else used them while I was there.

There were also two steam rooms.  One was 49 degrees and had jets spraying mist from the ceiling and round stumps on which to sit.  This room was very pleasant.  The second steam room was 69 degrees and the air tasted like hot chocolate (which I love).  69 degrees is very hot.  There is a 3 minute egg timer in the room, but I couldn't make it even a minute and a half (according to the timer, assuming it was a three minute timer).

The price was about $5.50 and it was more than worth it.  I was skeptical that sitting in hot tubs could be as enjoyable as all the websites say it is, but I am now a believer.  Half of the fun is trying to figure out in which order to rotate between the tubs and steam rooms so as to create the most comfortable contrasts in body temperature.

As mentioned before, there are more expensive bath houses that give users access to fitness rooms, game rooms, and massage parlours.  Actually, there was a masseuse at my place too, but I think that cost extra.  Regardless, this was an excellent first time experience and I think I just might splurge and spend a day at one of the fancier bath houses before I leave Korea since it is not appreciably more (you can even sleep there at night for no extra fee).

At the Sauna I met a man named Lee Young San who had visited Australia and met a Polish woman there and they are now married.  He was eager to show me pictures of her.  We also talked about his experiences with racism in Sydney, Australia and Moscow, as well as the attitudes of Koreans towards the Korean War and Americans in general.  Lee said that at least half of young Koreans resent Americans in some capacity because they now feel that they were used by America for political ends.  It was a long discussion and I won't bother trying to type it all down here.  Long story short, Lee Young San invited me out with him and some of his coworkers on Friday night.

Speaking of being asked out, Perry invited me over to his house on Monday night for dinner so that his wife can meet me and agree with him that I should stay at their place (his words).

I think I mentioned that I had cockroaches in my place and I finally caught one out in the open with my camera handy.

After returning from the bath house, I had some lunch (that's when I snapped the shot of the 'roach, which is why I included it here) and set out to find the National Museum of Korea.  I knew the general location and even which turns to make, but after a while I became disoriented and started to get worried that I had missed it somehow.

Most of the way there I was against a wall for the American military base.  Can I just say that most of Seoul, even the old side streets, have some sort of charm to them (I think), but that walking by anything to do with the American military base just makes your soul die?  The colour of everything is a light yellow-beige/brown combination, there is barbed wire everywhere, and the military police guarding the gates never smile ever (and they wear the ugliest beige uniforms).  If you have the displeasure of being above the fence on a high side street looking down, you see that many of the trees are dead too.  So I was very happy when I finally came to the beautiful Yongsan Park, a breath of Korean life in a sea of American inspired death.  (That's not me being a bleeding-heart either, it's just an observation)

The first non-pale, yellow/beige-like colours I saw in over twenty minutes of walking.

Crazy post-modern Korean art, or just a tribute to The Adam's Family?

There was another workout park, but this one was the most fun yet.  I actually spent a good fifteen minutes playing around on some of the more novel pieces of equipment.  In an attempt to keep the drain on my blog's image limit down I'll only post two of the most notable.

This is a treadmill that is made of rollers.  You have to hold onto the handles (which are unfortunately a bit low even for me), but the sensation of never being in control as you pull endless Fred Flinstones is quite neat.

This is the best piece of equipment I've seen yet.  It is an inversion rack.  You stick your ankles inside the pegs so that your feet won't fall out, and you use the welded wheels to rotate the entire contraption upside down.  There's no worry of getting stuck, because the entire device is spring loaded so that you will rotate back to an upright position the moment you let go of the wheels.  This was great fun to use, and felt wonderful on my back.

The design of the museum itself was worth the walk.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but as you walk around you get to see something new and exciting from every angle.

My guide book said that the cost was $2.00 for admission, but today it seemed to be free as nobody would accept my money no matter how hard I tried to give it to them (tipping is a concept that does not exist in Korean culture either from what I've read).

As with the War Memorial Museum, I took way too many pictures to include everything here, but what follows are some of the highlights of the highlights for me.

Ancient Scream mask made from a sea shell, presumably purchased from a woman on the sea shore.  As with movable metal type and many other inventions, Korea has always been ahead of the West.

A mace, and various replacement heads.

Brass cleats worn by soldiers.  Wouldn't you like to see an Olympic Tae Kwon Do tournament in which the competitors use these instead of those padded shoes?  The next time you ask if a given martial art will "work" for you, remember that martial arts were designed to kill people, so yes, it'll work for you.

This is a large coffin and it had a great name, but I forgot it.  Some of my readers who know a certain College in a certain city may think this looks familiar.

The description of this oar-like object was "Beating Stick" and it is from the 19th century.  It was placed right underneath the bludgeoning clubs, so I'm pretty sure it was  not used for beating the dust out of rugs.  It is roughly 6 feet long, or maybe longer.  I'll take a wooden spoon or ruler any day after seeing this, thank-you very much.

In the Joseon dynasty it was apparently customary for every male over the age of 16 to wear an identification tag.  It had your age, origin or birth, social position, and any other pertinent information necessary to peg you into your position of influence and value in a rigid social hierarchy.  This tag is made of ivory and this indicates that the wearer was a high-ranking government official in 1784.

This is an ancient, royal chamber part.  I know what you're thinking, so I don't need to say it.

This was neat.  It was the only Buddhist sculpture in the entire exhibit (and indeed the only one I've ever seen) in which the subject is not sitting cross-legged or standing in some sort of meditative pose.  This one appears to be simply reclining back on one hand like she's watching TV.

I don't know how it got into the National Museum of Korea, but this is a bike from Vietnam that has a large pile of fish traps stacked where the seat would be.  There were some pictures of fishermen riding these bikes with all sorts of various traps piled up behind them like the Clampetts going to Beverly Hills.

One of the more magnificent sights (which is why I saved it for the end) was this royal bed.  It was so large the user had to climb stairs just to lay on it.

 

Without a doubt, the most incredible display was this giant pagoda.  It stretched from the ground floor nearly to the third floor (each floor was about twenty feet high I'd estimate.  If you look very closely you can compare the height of the pagoda to the woman standing beside it in the second picture.  This was a favourite of all the photographers in the Museum.

What a day.  It's good to be back on track and out seeing Seoul.  Tomorrow I have a climbing contest with some more Korean dining afterwards.  Should be exciting.  It's weird to think that pretty soon March will be over and I'm going to have to start worrying about how to get my KTX (high speed train) ticket to Pusan and how to get from the train station to the Aquarium?  Time is flying by.

Episode 13: In Which DFM Prepares For His Second Wind

Not much to report today.  After my amazing night with Tae Yong, I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 AM.  My subsequent awakening did not take place until 12:30 in the afternoon.  Since I am still fighting the remainder of a cold, I decided not to go out today and to rest up for a second hard push at Seoul sightseeing.

Perry phoned me today.  Apparently when he asked me how long I had been in Seoul he meant how long would I be staying in Seoul?  I replied one week.  When I told him today that I would be staying for 7 more weeks (he did not understand the term 2 months, or the word May), he had to go back and check with his wife on whether or not I could stay with him.  He said he would phone me the next day.

Later I phoned Conor, the English teacher I met at COEX mall last week.  We set up a date for Saturday, when he would show me around some of the city.  He said he'd be in the neighbourhood of Dongdaemun so I suggested we check out the market since I am not sure what constitutes a good deal in those types of places and it would be nice to have an experienced Seoulite along.  It should also give me a chance to take a picture of the famous Dongdaemun gate.

In the process of phoning Conor I also figured out my phone card problem.  Apparently if you enter the area code, the card automatically assumes that you are phoning long distance and charges you triple the rate.  I decided to experiment and only entered the local telephone number which gained me an extra hour of calling.

My big accomplishment today was the completion of my spectacular, categorized list of climbing gyms and important sights in Seoul (a "to do list" if you will).  I categorized them according to location, with hours of operation and prices listed as well.  It may not seem like much, but it took me at least half the day.  It was worth it though, as now I have a definitive list of what I want to do/see in Seoul during my next seven weeks and eliminate the inefficient practice of flipping back and forth between pages in my travel guide.

Tomorrow I will probably check out the DMZ store that is within two minute's walking distance of my house (it was down a side street, off the main drag, so I missed it before), and spend the morning in one of the nearby, inexpensive saunas for which Korea is famous (the saunas, not the cheapness).