I think I've gotten my days in Korea all mixed up. I think some of these were of Sunday and Monday...but you don't know that! The only reason I figured this out is because Will is in this set of pics and he was at work every day while Hillary (wife of another solider) and I explored Seoul.
So Monday, Hillary and I were on our own to figure the subway system out and see if we could find stuff to fill the empty bags we brought to Korea. Hillary had done so much research and had written everything down in a notebook down to the exits we needed to take from the subway stations.
I didn't even know there were exits to take! I'm glad she was so organized. I think we did fairly well for two foreigners who completely stuck out like sore thumbs! Tall and light hair/skin, me with my camera taking pictures of almost everything, and before we took most stairs/escalators down to another subway level (there were 5) we would stop and consult the map...which did manage to get us some interesting conversations.
All from men. Not one woman stopped to ask us if we needed help (except for when Will was with me on our last day, but that's another story) and they were all "older" looking men too. A couple were a little too forward with their compliments as well.
I'm glad that old, Korean men find tall, American women attractive! No, not really glad. Wait! I lied...we did have an old woman come up to us as we were sitting and enjoying the most American food we could find for breakfast in Korea which we found at a shop called "Paris Baguette" (?) and she said something in Korean, asked us a question I think, and then as we stared at her with blank stares she said, "beautiful! beautiful!"
I tried to use the 3 phrases I knew the best as much as I could. Hello, Hello to elderly people, and Thank you. I always managed to get it backwards. Saying I was from Korea instead of the US...I think they understood though. I'm sure they also had a good laugh.
Our first day out, Monday, Hillary and I had mapped everywhere we wanted to go and were very successful at getting there.
This is Deoksu Palace...from the outside. Why not any pictures of the inside? Well, because all the palaces are closed on Mondays! Of course! It only took us a visit to another palace when we figured that out so we gave up and went shopping. Or looking in my case. :/
Shopping in Korea is not really shopping. It's total sensory overload!
My first day out with Hillary was so overwhelming. There is so much to see. I was afraid to eat anything or drink anything because I didn't want to have to use a bathroom anywhere but at the hotel, so I basically was starving myself and was totally dehydrated after a couple of days. Normally I am the queen of holding my bladder for crazy amounts of time, but I had taken it to another level...I was so exhausted when I would get back to the hotel that I would sleep until Will came back.
Me...shopping for clothes in Korea...the country where the people are petite and skinny...I'm used to going to Old Navy and seeing 34 of the same thing, finding my size, not trying it on, easy, done. Clothes shopping in Korea is so different. All the clothing stores were packed with little 10 x 10 booths that were separately owned and everything in them was different and original. No two booths or items of clothing were the same. Not even tags in the clothes...like they had just been sewn and they were out for sale! We did go into H&M and a couple other big name department stores, but why go to Korea and buy something I could get here?
I did have one little Korean lady come up to me as I was looking through a rack of pants, "You need BIG size." Yes. I realize that. Thanks for the reminder! At that point I gave up even looking at clothes unless it was a scarf or a wrap. You know, all the uni-size type things!
Koreans have the most interesting style...according to my Korean watching skills. They like cropped pants and a lot of the men's clothes are very feminine looking. Shirts with tucks in them, worn with cropped pants...can't imagine Will or Jay, or any other man I know wearing something like that, but I never saw the same shirt twice...love the originality! Again...me...Old Navy...multiples.
After my nap from exhaustion, Will came back from work and we met up with another couple to go to dinner. The concierge at the hotel told us about a popular and authentic place to go for dinner. Two eventful things happened from this dinner date. One...our taxi driver got in a fist fight with someone on the street after he dropped us off right in front of the restaurant. First there was yelling through windows, which got my attention as we were standing outside reading the menu, and then when the driver got out of the taxi and they took each other by their collars in the choke hold, we quickly walked inside the restaurant. I couldn't help but feel so bad and I wanted to help the man, but Will with all his training knew that the last thing we should have done was to get involved and end up in jail in Korea.
Will's done that before...
Will couldn't understand what they were yelling at each other...probably not super common every-day kind of words...but eventually the fight ended, the other guy had the taxi driver pinned backwards over the hood of the taxi at one point, but we never saw any police, only people yelling for help (you can't imagine the guilt I was feeling), and right before we finished our dinner, the taxi driver was sitting in his car having himself a cigarette...hmmm. I almost thought that he was waiting around for us to leave...we took our time just in case!
So, as much as we could enjoy dinner as we watched the fight from our table, dinner was so yummy. I'm so mad I didn't take pictures! The table was full of all kinds of little plates/bowls of food, different kimchi, and the best, yummy bean paste soup and all kinds of things we didn't (dare, me at least) try. The waitress brought over a little box of white hot wood and dropped it into a hole in the table and then she pulled down a little vent hood that were over each table to vent the smoke and she stood at the end of our table and cooked and cut up all our meat with huge long scissors for us...just like home, right? Again...I was afraid to drink the water so I ate the entire meal, hot Korean food, without drinking any water. And then after watching me struggle with the chopsticks, the waitress brought me a spoon. I really appreciated that.
Everything was good until I took a spoonful of the yummy bean paste soup and a little tiny shrimp with it's large antenna and black eyes came up with the spoon. Maybe it was just his head...I can't remember. All I remember were the little black dot eyes and the long...long...antenna! There ended my enjoyment of that soup. I had to have Will bury it back into the soup for me. I didn't want my spoon to touch it.
The second event, was the price. Just realize that the concierge is only going to give you advice to the best places. Best = pricey! When Will asked her where a good place to go to get Gal-bi (short ribs) was, I never thought that a small amount of
So...if anyone besides Will is still reading this...I promise it gets less wordy. I'm amazed at how much detail I still remember!
1 comment:
What an amazing trip! I love your photos. Very impressive.
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