Thursday, September 3, 2015

Korea


From PI we headed to Korea, our only planned detour from Southeast Asia. Arriving in Korea felt like such a luxury compared to Southeast Asia! The streets were clean, no trash to be seen, very little trash. Our first night we got in late and returned right to the jjimjilbang scene - naked Koreans again! Not to mention amazing spa facilities, the perfect stop to refresh and rest after a plane ride. The next day we had plans to meet Paul's brother, Michael, joining us from his own travels in Portugal. We headed to Itaewon for some craft beer, another luxury of Korea, and missed him due to his newly discovered punctuality and our still running on 'island time'. The next day we finally met up, did some exploring, checked out the amazing Gwangjang Market (stalls and stalls of delicious, made from scratch Korean food as far as you can see) and proceeded to eat and rink a bunch of Korean specialities for a few days until the real adventure started and we met the rest of Paul's family Gangnam, I was lucky to be able to accompany them on their Woo family tour of Korea, thanks to Paul's grandma. I had heard stories of their previous tour in Korea, but still wasn't quite prepared for everything that was to come. We met me at the COEX hotel, one of the fanciest hotels I've ever been in (much less stayed in) and everything continued from there. In addition to the posh places we stayed at (most recently Paul and I were staying in less than immaculate windowless cement boxes in PI) I had to get used to the schedule of the tour, which Paul assured me was a packed one. After our first day of luxury in Gangnam we were to get up (by 6, I believe) enjoy the amazing hotel brunch buffet and catch a flight to out first destination, Jeju Island, Korea's own little Hawaii. From Jeju the tour really started, we were whisked to coastal views, treks, museums, green tea and tangerine farms, acrobatic circuses (remember that Simpsons episode where Homer, I think, rides a motorcycle in a 360 loop in a metal ball at the fair? -- picture that with 5 Koreans simultaneously) and even a teddy bear museum. Just in case you wanted to see a lifesize Obama teddy bear ... We were led by our trusty tour guide, Hans, through all this. I appreciated his way of talking down everything we were about to see right before we saw it ("I've seen the circus once, once is enough" / "You have 45 minutes here, you really only need 10" in addition to the way all his stories seems to revolve around toilets. I also enjoyed how he needed to answer everything being the tour guide, when obviously he has no idea. "What are those, Hans?" -"Buildings". / "What is that dragon holding?" -"Um, a dragon ball." From Jeju, we caught a flight to Busan, Koreas second largest city. We had a good exploration of the local fish market, I had a local make fun of me for being scared of their huge tarantula-esque (in my eyes) crabs and then we had some free time to explore while Paul and Michael indulged me and accompanied me to a dog cafe I spotted. Hans had randomly mentioned these and I knew I had to find one. All over Korea are dog cafes, where you can bring your dog, or just go to play with the dogs they have there. We walked up the stairs, heard the dogs barking, opened the door to the stench of urine, ordered our beers, sat down and were immediately surrounded by dogs. They are on your table and climbing into the booth next to you, wagging tails and trying to lick your face. It's all super absurd, and it was way more intense dog wise than I was expecting. One of those 'only in Asia' experiences for sure. We made the most of the weirdness and enjoyed our time there, savored our beers, and made sure not to touch any of the complimentary snacks they out out for you in an open basket .... Definitely felt like not eating anything there was the right call. From Busan it was a whirlwind, hard even to remember all the towns we made our way through, but I believe we went from there to Daegu, Gyeonju (sp?) and Seorak-san mountain. There were lots of views, museums, beautiful mountain temples to see along the way. Seorak-san park was definitely a highlight, it was nice to get to hike a little and experience all of the amazing nature we'd been seeing. Korea is amazingly green and mountainous, and the nature is really respected and treasured. We hiked up to a temple in the mountain, one of the monks was singing and he had one of the most beautiful, soothing voices I've ever heard. It was amazing to be up in that beautiful area and just enjoy listening to his voice. From there, the tour made its way back to Seoul. We had a free day to shop and see family, then went on a city tour of Seoul. We had a new guide, who was so tightly wound it was hilarious. At one stop Paul went in for a bathroom break (he can't be rushed during those times) and I though the guide was going to burst a blood vessel while waiting for him ... I'm still not sure what his rush was, all I know is he ran a tight ship on his tour. The last day of the tour with the family, we went up to the DMZ, to get a glimpse into North Korea. Once you get to the actual border the atmosphere really changes, it feels way more tense and strained than I was expecting. North Korean soldiers are everywhere, never responding to you, but looking as serious as they can. Tourists take photos with them and they stand still and the whole scene is quite absurd, everyone is playing their part and it feels like stepping into a movie scene or something. You are able to go into the 'blue house' on the border, in the middle of it is the long table where meetings take place, and once you pass that you can officially say you are in North Korea. Very interesting place, and really very few places like it in the entire world. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the family, the tour was an amazing experience. I felt so lucky to not only have seen all tithings we saw, but to be included in the family vacation so warmly. It really was nice to have that a few months into our trip. After the tour we spent another week or so in Seoul with Michael, just exploring the city -- it's huge and there's so many distinct little neighborhoods .... We even had a legit Korean clubbing experience with Paul's cousins. It didnt end until 5am rolled around in a karaoke bar, as it should. After our week in Seoul we parted ways with Michael and made our way to jeonju, about 2 or so hours directly south of Seoul. We were going there as we were attending a meditation retreat in the area (more in that later) and wanted to use the opportunity to explore another Korean town. Jeonju ended up being one of our favorite places we visited. Our first day there we were looking at a map trying to find a restaurant, a local asked us if we needed help, and he needed up having lunch with us. And joining us for an informal half day tour of the city. Jeonju has an amazing 'tradition hanok village' full of history and museums and a bunch of Koreans really stoked about being Korean. There are young people all around who rent the traditional cloths and wear them all day, the whole place has a lively energy -- it feels a bit like Disneyland, just without e rides if that makes any sense. Jeonju is also known for its magkeolli, a traditional Korean rice wine, which I really like but Paul doesn't care for. We ventured into a bar one big after a nice dinner for a drink or two, and found it packed with Koreans, some very inebriated. We sat down, the waiter gave us a second to look at the menu and be confused and then just asked if we wanted magkeolli. We said yes, and the night began. He comes back with a huge pot full of the stuff, a teapot bigger than my head, with a little plate of veggies to have with it. We were both surprised/delighted by the size of the pot. We thought the veggies were strange drinking food, but went with it, a couple minutes later the waiter returns with 20 or so small dishes he begins piling onto every spare inch of our table. Mind you, we had already eaten and these dishes were intense. Snails and worms intense, along with a bunch of to her things we had no clue about. We went with it the best we could, took in the scene, and quickly coined that place the 'magkeolli dungeon'. The next day out clothes still reeked of fish and all the weird stuff that gets consumed in that place. From here, we totally switched gears. We had signed up to take part in a 10 day silent meditation, in the Vipassana style. Paul had been thinking of doing this for a while, and was keen on the idea of doing it in his homeland. I was open to it, interested more than anything, and thought it would be a great thing to do pretty much exactly halfway into out trip- perhaps open our eyes and the way we experience all these places were visiting. It was an intense 10 days, but went faster then I thought. Each day being with a wake up bell at 4:30 am, which is to be followed by 2 hours of meditation. The day continues on like this, with some breaks for melas and free time. Out of the 17 hour day ending at 9:30 I calculated that 10 of those hours are to be spend meditating. Very intense, but you are guided and have different things to work on each day. Everything builds on itself, it's very interesting -- you have nightly discourses which touch in the meditation itself as well as the philosophy, and I quite appreciated what a scientific approach these talks seemed to have --- not entirely just a touchy feely feeling the positive vibes sort of meditation. It's an experience hard to describe, and though it was hard I'd recommend it to anyone interested. I knew every little about it going in, which I recommend. Definitely a sort of once in a lifetime week. From jeonju we headed back to seoul, after the meditation ended we had about three free days before we were to fly to Vietnam. The first day back into the real world was quite strange, you notice so much and I really felt like an outsider observing the rest of the population around me. I remember I had such a hard time using the atm that first day out, it seemed so foreign! We spent our last days in Seoul, got to meet up with Michael again, went out drinking with some of the people from the meditation ( somewhat funny as drinking is a no no to a serious Vipassana meditator) and had an amazing dinner with Paul's uncle. It was a great end to our adventure in Korea. We did so much, and I know I haven't been able to pay it all justice, but it was an amazing time. .... With this ,I'm caught up with my blogging as best as I can do -- we are currently enjoying Vietnam and it's absolutely beautiful. You will hopefully hear about it all soon enough!!!

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