As if was on the second day as well, the day began here, Starbucks. A bit of familiarity to take in before we embraced day two of the second largest metropolitan city in this world... Seoul.
So Sunday was a bit more leisurely. We decided that it would be great to venture from Julia's brothers house, over to a trendy artsy neighborhood that I simply can't remember the name at this time. Notes will be taken during the journey next time, I promise. Anyway, it was a bit unique in that many of the shopping (pedestrian only) streets were very non-Korean. Thing about living here is that you can tell you are in Korea wherever you are. Very traditional and somewhat boring architecture. Conrete slab walls with blue or orange colored roofs, often with black trim. You've seen it once and would think there is some special sale at the Korean equivilant to IKEA, only from permantent residences. There is certainly a trend in this society to conform, which I will always disagree with.
Shane made a great point that I new was developing somewhere in the back of my head, but had yet to express. Korea has many beautiful sights. Extraordinary natural reserves, tropical plant life, unique statues and ornate decorations everywhere. That is common. Though what I hate is that Korea does not take all astetics into account like I would think the Japanese might under their Feng shui lifestyle. There are brightly colored neon lights on the bathroom roofs in meditative parks, an unorganized system for cable/telephone wiring and a general lack of trash cans. This angers me because littering is not super un-common. Though it should be noted that there are people who go around and pick up the trash, it just would make a lot more sense if people simply put trash cans on the corners of streets.... right? I just think that Korea, not too long ago was stuggling simply to survive and I'm sure when your hungry, you don't care if you see a telephone over your head while you eat...
Strolling through the streets...So back from that tangent, this nameless, neighborhood was a fantastic getaway. I felt like I could have been back in Paris with the small coffee cafe's with patio seating, window shutters and wooden details that baffled me on my realization that I kept having to repeat to myself, "yeah, I am in Seoul right now...".
Justin in this nameless neighborhood...
Great color in this paiting by the above artist...
There was quite a few museums to see here...After browsing a few streets and an art gallery or two, we decided to enjoy a drink at a nice cafe while we waited to meet up with Julias family for lunch. Having an aching for some Korean Bulgolgi (thin beef marinated in a spicy/sweet sauce with onions and leeks) we all searched around for some special restaurant. After eating the meal with about 10 of us at the table, we strolled back again through the first shopping neighborhood that we were at on Saturday. I hate not having posted any of the names of these places, so I hope to get the rundown from Julia and re-edit these later.
Two of the cutest Korean kids I've seen...
We found a vintage toyshop/ musuem that we just had to enter. Finding dust covered lego sets from my past (the epic pirate ship!) and a collection of star wars action figures from the 80's we knew we had found our favorite store. We found these fantastic glasses that after the first picture with Rachel, I had my biggest laugh of the entire trip and we just had to all try them on.
Rachel and Shane looking fantastic...
Departing from there it was heading into the evening and we decided it would be best to head towards Gimpo airport and depart from Justin, Shane and Rachel. Knowing how easy and cheap it is to get to Seoul, I knew I will be back quite often. Figuring from my total expenses here and managing a large chuck of money to pay off some credit card debt, I think I can still manage a once a month vacation to visit me mates.
how fun Kyle. where is the picture with you and the glasses. its funny you hate the korean architecture. miss you friend
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