Out of the City for Once

Recently, I had a chance to take a trip with one of these "lets get a bunch of foreigners together and go do outdoorsy things" groups. Actually, it was very fun and gave me a chance to meet a whole new entourage of peoples. We took a trip out of Seoul (서울) to Gangwondo (강원도) on a nice big juicy bus. Honestly after being in the metropolis for six to seven months it was a breath of fresh air to leave, literally. Seoul doesn't exactly boast the cleanest air. Korea has some truly beautiful scenery once you make it outside any major city.

The objective of this trip was to do some hardcore rafting, hardcore socializing, and then of course hardcore river trekking. Turns out the only hardcore thing was the socializing. We may be able to attribute soju to encouraging the antics, however, it was a very good time whilst eating Korean BBQ and kimchi.



Rafting was interesting, somewhat fun, and somewhat not dangerous. Our guide told us that someone had died three weeks before we arrived on the rapids, but I think he was probably just trying to get our blood flowing. Also, he decided to put all seven of our crew on a very tiny rock and let us balance ourselves for about 10 minutes. That may have been one of the more interesting moments of rafting.



I had never been River Trekking before this trip, but it was really fun and much different from hiking a mountain. At all times you could look up and see the surrounding mountains, which were very steep. At various points there were nice jumping spots were we all took a plunge.

I've been thinking recently that it may actually be fun to see other parts of Korea more often. I may take some kind of road trip through Korea. I'll have to wait on that one.

Memory burn turns to experience

I recently had one of the most dumbfounding cases of amnesia concerning the combination to my electronic door lock. I've been pressing those little buttons for months now and it seems that imputing the code became a matter of muscle memory rather than memory memory. I credit my buddy with the blame for asking me to run up to his room, use his combination, and read a series of passport numbers for getting my head in the wrong place. When I returned I tried pressing the code, but it was like I just shut down and the memory of what was right was gone. I had just bought a new classical guitar and I was in the middle of recalling an old tune by Mr. Bach and was eager to get back to it. What was worse is that since I was doing a ''solid'' for a friend and planned to return shortly, I left my wallet and money in the room. I was starving. I was about to take a shower. I knew I would be cranky as a result. After making all the phone calls I could in English and exhausting every possible resource for the code, I accepted the situation and climbed a mountain with my buddy Mike.

It was a cool day, so the hike was quite nice. I was waiting to get any info I could about the code. I knew the last source would be the person who lived in the room before me. I ''facebooked'' her, but since she was in Paris on a sunday noon, I didnt expect much. The mountain was nice and green. We could see a very good distance that day across the river and the vast streches of the city limits. I tried to think what it might have looked like 500 years ago and my guess was that it would still have been an amazing sight.

Back at my buddy's spot, I just passed the time as I could, trying to think of ways of getting that damn code. Evan suggested I stay at a Jjimjilbang over night. Since it's only 8,000 won (5-7 US $ ) to stay, it was actually a brilliant idea. After sneaking around my workplace for a way into the office, which is one place I could have scored the code, I just hung out with the boys for a while. I made my way to the public bath house, for the first time.

I can't say it's the best thing since sliced bread, but a public sauna Korean style isn't so bad. I could use the relaxation after a day of low stress. I took a dip in the hottest of hot tubs, frigid cold water pool, and almost a 200 degree sauna. The hot to cold is quite theraputic. They have sleeping rooms there with mats on the floor and what I would call a block for your head. For a sauna, the sleep is not so hot. Between old men snoring, farting, and cell phones twinkling, I had on and off sleep. But I dig. I was hungry after being in the sauna, so I bought three hard boiled eggs, but not really. When I cracked them, they were nasty brown. I thought they had to be purely rotten, but the guy who sold them to me was saying in Korean that it was "ok" while waving his hand at them as if I shouldnt eat it? But I braved it after a Korean pasta chef came over and said they were simply cooked a different way, almost like in a stove with heat. How about that for a midnight snack.

Being locked out of my room stinks, but I probably wouldn't have gone to the jjimjilbang otherwise, so I have to submit that it was a good experience produced by bad luck. I finally got back into my room today after coming back to work and getting the code. It seems like all circumstances lined up so that I couldn't have done it any other way. Now I need some groceries...Kims Club baby.

When routine returns.

I finally got my camera to start working again. I think by chance, I figured out the battery needs to be re-insterted from time to time. I've been adjusting to life in Korea for a good three months now. I kept saying in the beginning "I wonder when culture shock is going to hit me?" Well, even though I was an anthropology major, I don't think I fully grasped the concept. I can't say with certainty, but I think I may have a touch of cultural distaste. I think this has a lot to do with the three month period and having a solid schedule set in place. The first two months were very exciting and busy. Everything was so new and interesting. Things are still very interesting, I even know enough Korean to get around ok now, but not enough to have a basic conversation, unfortunatly. I have this Idea in my head about what I want to do with my days and my time, but it seems like I don't actually get around to doing it. I dont have to be at work until 3 everyday, so it is an aweful temptation to sleep in. After losing a lot of my fitness gains I finally made a stand to get back in the gym. I actually really love working out and doing hard physical challenges. So that was a missing piece of the puzzle for a while. Another thing is that I now eat much better than I did when I first arrived. When you travel, some adjustments and sacrifices have to be made, and for me they came in the form of unhealthy eating and loss of fitness in order to maximize time for adventure. So even though I have a healthy appetite for travel, I now believe that periods of rest are essential for mental health.

On a lighter note, I've been doing some hiking with my boys up in here. I have a few pictures to put up. Hopefully they testify better than I.

The Olympus pose as Evan deemed it was a nice touch upon the rock. I think I will throw a few random pictures into the mix. I believe they are, not with respect, me walking with my hitman gloves on through Hongdae, me looking out over a quiet night street, and some stuff.

I've also been feeling the need to set goals. I need to write it down. I think that helps me not sit around. A year is actually a long time and I have about 9 more months here. It gives me a lot of time to think about what I might want to do in the future. I also dislike smog.

First Fruits of Seoul

I've been here in Seoul for about three weeks now and it's been the most interesting and fun experience of my life. It does really suck not to be able to speak the language. I've decided that I'm going to take a Korean class starting next month, so I should be able to pick it up quickly once I get some kind of structured learning going on.

There is so much to do in Seoul. The reason I haven't made another post is because I always feel like using my time for something else. Last night on the subway I was thinking the experience must be different for people who work and live in Seoul than for those who are purely travelers. I haven't even scratched the surface of what Seoul has to offer, yet I've been here three weeks. Working in the late afternoon is also a bit different. It allows for a night out any night, but most of the things I want to do aren't a part of fantastic night life. However, going out in Itaewon or Hongdae is really fun and I can meet a lot of Koreans who speak English.

I must apologize for the scarcity in pictures, but it's not really my bag to take lots of pictures. I should make that my bag.

Recently I went to a Buddhist temple area. I don't remember where this was exactly because I went with a Korean friend and she was just showing me around different places. I like this picture because it shows the contrast between tradition and the modernity of Seoul. I don't know for sure but I think Buddhism is less prevalent than Christianity and other religions practiced here. I heard that being a Buddhist in Seoul is more of a trend and that wealthy families tend to belong. I really wanted to take a picture of the inside of one of the temples I went in, but they were in the middle of some kind of prayer. I haven't quite figured it out yet but I can see very conservative remnants within Korean culture, but it doesn't really make sense to me. I can't really explain that well right now. This place was pretty cool. There was a large marble-like surface where people would go out and pray. Here, as well as houses and such you have to take off your shoes. I had to take off my shoes when I went into the temple.

Damn I need some new clothes. Everyone here wears really fashionable stuff. It's great to shop here because there is an endless selection. I have to start managing my money. You can spend it well and fast.

I need to get a haircut.....

Little taste of Japan

Holy hand grenade (An old Combs expression). Seoul is unbelievably amazing. I'm sure it's because I've never been out of the country and everything is just new and exciting. Living here for the past 5 days has been very fun. I don't even really know where to start. The trip here was an adventure as well, since my flight was delayed 3 hours on the tarmac in Detroit due to weather. I missed my connection from Japan to Seoul, so the airline (Northwest) put all 300+ passengers in a hotel with free dinner and breakfast, so I wasn't complaining too much. I will say that the 12.5 hour flight wasnt so comfortable, but I was able to get up and walk around, chill with the flight attendants, and fall asleep throughout to pass the time better.

Once we got to Japan some of us got together and decided to go out in Narita, 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).

Riding an Asian airline was way better than Northwest. I met a cool dude on the plane, Joseph, on his way to Taejon. He helped me with some basic Korean phrases.

I can't really complain about anything here. The people are way nice and my job is fairly simple and I get a free nice apartment on the 14th floor in Seocho-gu, im not sure yet which dong (neighborhood of course). I get to walk in at night and look out to a nice little cityscape.

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.

more to come.....

Visa Run Atlanta & Some..

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......