Well, this is my first blog entry and I kicked off the adventure with a mandatory stop in Atlanta, GA. I stayed downtown at the Red Roof Inn, which wasn't really that bad, but downtown in general can look shady at any time of day. I had to go and pick up my visa at the Korean consulate after a brief interview. I was surprised since it was a "visa" interview that the consulate only asked me about my music studies in college and nothing concerning traveling and living in Korea. The visa pickup turned out to be the least of the things I did, or tried to do.
It was my first time going solo in a big city as well as flying alone, so at first I had to, and still do really, play to the role of an observer and figure out what the hell was going on. It was actually quite fun being alone, you know, because I can do whatever I want and its cool. I basically just explored the Peachtree Center and some of the subway stops on MARTA when I first arrived, but I knew I wanted to see the King Tut Exhibition, aquarium, Coca-Cola Center, and CNN headquarters.
King Tut was my favourite of the sights. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed, but seeing artifacts that were thousands of years old was (awe)some. I was able to meet a Filipino girl there too and we had coffee afterward.
The Georgia Aquarium and Coca-Cola center are next to each other so it's very convenient to see both back to back. The sight to see at G aquarium is the Beluga Whale tank and the Voyager tank, but in my opinion not as cool as it's hyped up to be. The whale sharks are ok too.
The Coca-Cola factory is also pretty cool, the best part by far is being able to sample over 60 Coke products from around the world. I was quick to sample the Asian products just so I could see what I might be in for, but they didn't have anything from Korea. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm going to Asia or maybe I'm just interested in foreigners, but I also met two girls from Taiwan at the Coke tour. There are many foreigners everywhere in Atlanta and I liked my cab driver as well, who was from Nigeria. We talked about a mutual musical interest, Fela Kuti.
I went to the CNN center but it was just an average thrill. Seeing the inside of the newsroom was cool and I saw the anchor who we watched from the tour gallery up close on the way out. She was really tall.
Perhaps the most interesting little side quest was when I went up to Midtown to look for a neck shave. I was noticing some rogue hairs back there and I wanted to look good when I got off the plane in Korea. I remembered seeing American Haircuts when I went to J. Christophers for breakfast the day before. When I went in, the first thing they asked me was "you need some cough syrup?" It didn't quite register that they mean "grandpa's cough medicine". I said "no, but I could use a stiff drink." To my very large surprise the manager pulls off the shelf a bottle of aged scotch and asked if that would be ok. "Uhhhhh" I said. "It's complimentary, don't worry." I couldn't refuse a free glass of scotch, cmon'. So as I'm drinkin on my juice, one of the gentlemen barbers was giving me a hot lather neck shave and a hot towel head rub. It was actually really cool and I would definitely go back again. The best part is they didn't charge me at all for their services or the drink. So we hung out a little while and talked about traveling and spirits. I had to get a picture.
Overall, Atlanta was fun and a good place to experience some fun things. The real meat lies ahead and as I'm typing this entry at the Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan, I can't help but feel that excited nervousness. You know the kind that turns your stomach into brunswick stew. I probably shouldn't have had coffee. I'll be boarding soon......
arita, because we were at least 2 hours by taxi to Tokyo. We ended up walking down the street to a little bar, only armed with "hai" and "arregato", which respectively means yes and thank you, I think. So that lead to me saying Hai to a very skank glass of whiskey, but Asahi made up for that. I was humored by the music that Uzi coined as 50's occupation era. Koreans and Japanese both love to play American music everywhere. Even as I'm sitting in Holly's Coffee, there are christmas classics playing. It was really fun to just meet up with other travelers, going to all different parts of asia: Bangkok, Beijing, Manila, and Seoul. So we made the best of our lay-over. In this picture new friends (Will, Taryn, Uzi).
So far I haven't been able to do many touristy things. I'm starting slow and exploring my neighborhood before I really over extend myself. When I go out with friends I don't worry about getting home, but the language barrier is intimidating at times. However I am getting better very fast. Last night I managed to hail a taxi and get home by myself after too much soju, which is also why this post is going to be short.
