Korea - Day 1

When arriving to any new country, your initial impressions are of the airport. The Seoul Incheon airport is amazingly clean and modern. It's sad that the most standout aspect was the crazy high tech toilets that have a plastic lining on the seat and rotates when you are done using it...sooo crazy! I've only see that in Japan before. After going through customs, we saw a swarm of girls gathered around an exit door. Curious to see what the commotion was about, we quickly walked to the scene to find a huge crowd of young women taking pictures and screaming at a Korean boy band. I pushed my way to the front to find the reason for all the commotion....an incredibly well dressed Korean pop star (I have no idea who it is though). He was tall and slim with a fedora hat and aviator glasses. It's amazing how quickly I reverted back to bopper mode and I pushed my way through the throngs of girls and bodyguards to get within 3 feet of this k-star, while of course screaming the entire time like a 16 year old girl...lol. I really wish I actually knew who he was cause it would've made the experience that much better. After that initial excitement, we boarded onto our airport bus and headed into Seoul. I think that we have been staying in Macau for too long because the hour and half long bus ride made Korea seem incredibly large and daunting.

After checking in, we explored the Myeong dong district. This neighborhood is in Central Seoul near the financial district and city hall. The area is famous for trendy shopping and restaurants. The nightlife is amazing in this district. Even at midnight on Weds, the streets are still crawling with people. Many of the karaoke spots and bars are in this area. Most people out and about at this hour were businessmen and women coming from their work at many of the large Korean corporations. Still wearing their suits, they head to the nearest BBQ joint and drink it up. While eating our dinner, the table next to us sat three well dressed business women. I'm not sure just how long they have been eating there, but they had 6 bottles of soju on their table and we're continuing to order more. This made me think about the American and Korean perceptions of alcohol and drinking. In Korea, it seems that drinking (even excessively) is just part of everyday life. It is culturally accepted amongst all ages - not just the young club-going types. Drinking and eating out go hand and hand - almost to the point where it is expected you have the capacity to drink heavily and still hold your own. In contrast, the American drinking culture is looked down upon and often seen as an immoral activity. With an older drinking age, teenagers perceive alcohol as a forbidden drink and thus placing a different type of cultural perception on drinking. Making alcohol inaccessible to younger people, teenagers become obsessed with drinking it because of its association with being rebellious. In turn, drinking excessively is usually only associated with young people or alcoholics. Three women and six bottles of soju would be a rare site in America.

This is what happens when you can't read the menu...

On our first day in Seoul, Tat and I visited Gyeongbokgung, Seoul's grandest palace. We were impressed by the palace grounds. Though original palace was destroyed by the Japanese in the 1500s, the palace was restored to its original grandeur in the 1800s. Korean palaces are similar to the architecture of Japanese and Chinese monuments, but the main distinguishing feature is the vivid colors used to paint under the eaves of the roofs. The ceilings inside the palaces are also carved and colored.





The changing of the guard ceremony was also a great insight into traditional Korean culture. The elaborate ceremony comprised of about forty guards and a traditional Korean band.






Our tour of the palace grounds was enlivened by the hundreds of school children there on that day. Thursday must have been a field trip day for Seoul because there were hundreds upon hundreds of school children - ranging from preschool to high school. It was interesting to see how in another country and with a foreign language you can still see the same interactions with children. It's safe to say that no matter where you are in the world...kids will be kids. You can easily distinguish the cool crowds, the nerdy students, the teacher's pet even when you can't understand a word they are saying.



After the palace, we explored the Insadong district - famous for its art galleries and traditional Korean restaurants and tea shops. We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant that was restored in its original state. The neighborhood was incredibly cute, but a bit touristy and overpriced.

Needless to say, my journey to Korea was slightly food motivated. Today I was reunited with Froyo not just once, but twice:P